IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


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1.25 


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2.2 


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Photographic 
_Sdences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  MSSO 

(716)  872-4S03 


,M'  4K>. 


l/j 


X 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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D 


n 


n 


n 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I   Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
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I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


The 
to  til 


0 
D 

n 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 


The 
posa 
oftK 
filmi 


Origi 
begi 
the  I 
sion, 
othe 
first 
sion, 
or  ill 


The  I 
shall 
TINL 
whic 

Mapi 
diffa 
entir 
begii 
right 
requi 
metl 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

lire 

ddtaiis 
jes  du 
:  modifier 
ger  une 
filmage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
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Archives  of  Canada 

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or  illustrated  impression. 


i6es 


L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grflce  A  la 
ginirositA  de: 

La  bibliothdque  des  Archives 
publiques  du  Canada 

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conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplalres  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
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derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
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empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^-(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
derniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


ire 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  pisnches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmte  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6,  il  est  filmA  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  h  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  n6cessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


>y  errata 
ed  to 

mt 

me  pelure, 

apon  d 


1  : 

2 

3 

32X 


t 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

A 


E 


E      R 


i 


ADDRESSED      TO      TH  E 


ABBE     RAYNAL 


ON     THE 


Affairs  of  North- America. 


X  N     WHICH 


The  Miftakes  in  the  Abbe's  Account 


OF     THE 


REVOLUTION  OF  AMERICA 


ARE   CORRECTED    AND   CLEARED   UP. 


if] 


By    THOMAS    PAINE,    M.  A. 

OF  THE   UNIVERSITY  OF   PENNSYLVANIA,    AND   AUTHOR   OF 
A  TRACT,  ENTITLED    **  COMMON   SENSE." 


PHILADELPHIA,   PRINTED: 

LONDON,     REPRINTED, 
For  C.    DILLY,   ik    the  Poultry, 


M.DCC.LXXXII. 


,  ..      .  t 


r 


INTRODUCTION. 


LONDON  tranflation  of  an  original  work  In 
French,  by  the  Abbe  Raynal,  which  treats  of 
the  Revolution  of  North  America,  having  been 
Reprinted  In  Philadelphia  and  other  parts  of  the  continent, 
and  as  the  diftance  at  which  the  Abbe  is  placed  from  the 
American  theatre  of  war  and  politics,  has  occafioned  him 
to  miflake  feveral  fails,  or,  mifconceive  the  caufes  or 
principles  by  which  they  were  produced  j  the  following 
tradl,  therefore,  is  publilhed  with  a  view  to  redlify  them, 
and  prevent  even  accidental  errors  intermixing  with  hifto^. 
xy^  under  the  fandlion  of  time  and  filence. 

The  editor  of  the  London  edition  has  entitled  it,  '*  The 
Revolution  of  America,  by  the  Abbe  Raynal,"  and  the 
American  printers  have  followed  the  example.  But  I 
have  underftood,  and  I  believe  my  information  juft,  that 
the  piece,  whicli  is  more  properly  refleilions  on  the  re- 
volution, was  unfairly  purloined  from  the  printer  which 
ithe  Abbe  employed,  or  from  the  manufcript  copy,  and  is 
only  part  of  a  larger  work  then  in  the  prefs,  or  preparing 
for  it.  The  perfon  who  procured  it  appears  to  have  been 
hn  Englifliman,  and  though  in  an  advertifement  prefixt 
to  the  London  edition,  he  has  endeavoured  to  glofs  over 
the  embezzlement  with  profeflions  of  patriotifm,  and  to 

foften 


1! 


[     vi     ] 

foftrn  it  with  high  encomiums  on  the  author,  yet  the 
aelicn,  in  any  view,  in  which  it  can  be  placed,  is  illi- 
beral ajid  unpardonable. 


(( 


(C 


c< 

(C 

cc 


(& 


In  the  courfe  of  his  tr.ivels,"  fays  he,  "  the  tranflator 
happily  fucceeded  in  obtaining  a  copy  of  this  exquifite 
little  piece,  which  has  not  yet  made  its  appearance  from 
any  prcfs.  He  publifhes  a  French  edition,  in  favour  of 
thofe  who  will  feel  its  eloquent  reafoning  more  forcibly 
its  native  languas-c,  at  the  fame  time  with  the  tol- 


m 


lowing  tv;inflaJ;ion  of  it  ^  jn  wnich  he  has  been  defirpus, 
j^erhaps  in  vain,  that  all  the  warmth,  the  grace,  the 
ftrength,  the  dignity  of  the  original,  faould  not  be  loft. 
**  And  he  flatters  hiinfelf,  that  the  indulgence  of  the  illu- 
ftricus  hiftorian  will  not  be  wanting  to  a  man,  who, 
of  his  own  motion,  has  taken  the  liberty  to  give  this 
compofition  to  the  public,  only  from  a  ftrong  perfua- 
fion,  that  its  momentous  argument  will  be  ufeful,  in 
a  critical  cpnjun6|^irc,  to  that  country  M'hich  he  loves 
with  an  ardour,  that  can  be  exceeded  only  by  the 
nobler  flame,  which  burns  in  the  bofom  of  the  philan- 
thropic author,  for  the  freedom  and  happiiipfs  of  all  the 
countries  upon  earth." 


cc 


cc 


cc 


(C 

cc 
cc 
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This  plaufibility  of  fettirg  ofF  a  difhonourable  a£tion, 
may  pafs  for"  patriotifm  and  found  principles  with  thofe 
who  do  not  enter  into  its  demerits,  and  whofe  intereft  is 
not  injured  nor  their  happinefs  affeiSted  thereby.  But  it 
is  more  than  probable,  notwithflanding  the  declarations 
it  contains,  that  the  copy  was  obtained  for  the  fake  of 
profiting  by  the  fale  of  a  new  and  popular  work,  and  that 
the  profeiTions  are  but  a  garb  to  the  fraud. 

It  may  with  propriety  be  remarked,  that  in  all  countries 
where  literature  is  prote6led,  and  it  never  can  flourifti 
where  it  is  not,  the  works  of  an  author  are  his  legal  pro- 
perty ;  and  to  treat  letters  in  any  other  light  than  this,  is 
to  banilh  them  from  the  country  or  ftrangle  therh  in  the 
birth.— ——The  embezzlement  from  the  Abbe  Raynal, 
was,  it  is  true,  committed  by  one  country  upon  another, 
and  therefore  fhews  no  defeat  in  the  laws  of  either.  But 
it  is  ncverthelefs  a  breach  of  civil  manners  and  literary 
juflicej  neither  can  it  be  any  apology,  that  becaufe  th6 

7  countries 


1 

i 


f     vii     .1 


:t  the 
8  ilU- 


iflator 
quilite 
E  from 
cur  of 
srcibly 
he  fol- 
ifirpus, 
:e,  the 
be  loft. 
be  illu- 
,  who, 
ive  this 
perfua- 
;ful,   in 
^e  loves 
by  the 
philan- 
f  all  the 


;  aftion, 
th  thofe 
itereft  is 

But  it 
arations 

"ake  of 
and  that 


ountries 
flourifli 
gal  pro- 
this,  is 
in  the 
Raynal, 
another, 
|er.     But 
I  literary 
caufe  th6 
countries 


n 


countries  are  at  war,  literature  ftiall  be  entitled  to  depre- 
dation *. 

But  the  foreftalling  the  Abbe's  publication  by  London 
editions,  both  in  French  and  Englifli,  and  thereby  not 
only  defrauding  him  and  throwing  an  expenfive  puolica- 
tion  on  his  hands  by  anticipating  the  fale,  are  only  the 
fmaller  injuries  which  fuch  conduct  may  occafion.  A 
man's  opinions,  whether  written  or  in  thought,  are  his 
own  until  he  pleafes  to  publifh  them  himfelf ;  and  it  is 
-J,  adding  cruelty  to  injuftice,  to  make  him  the  author  of 

^  what  future  refle(9:ion,  or  better  information,  might  occa- 

.  fion  him  to  fupprefs  or  amend.    There  are  declarations  and 

I,  fentiments  in  the  Abbe's  piece,  which,  for  my  own  part, 

I  did  not  expedl  to  find,  and  fuch  as  himfelf,  on  a  re- 
vifal,  might  have  feen  occafion  to  change  ;  but  the  anti- 
cipated piracy  effeftually  prevented  him  the  opportunity, 
and  precipitated  him  into  difficulties,  which,  had  it  not 
been  for  fuch  ungenerous  fraud,  might  not  have  hap- 
pened. 

This  mode  of  making  an  author  appear  before  his  time, 
will  appear  ftill  more  ungenerous,  when  we  confider  how 
exceedingly  few  men  there  are  in  any  country,  who  can 
at  once,  and  without  the  aid  of  reflection  and  revifal, 
combine  warm  paffions  with  a  cool  temper,  and  the  full 
expanfion  of  imagination  with  the  natural  and  neceflary 
gravity  of  judgment,  fo  as  to  be  rightly  balanced  within 

themfelves, 


*  Thejiate  of  literature  in  America  mujl  one  day  heco^n-:  a 
fuhjeil  of  legijlative  confider ation.  Hitherto  it  hath  been  a  ;.v/-- 
interejled  volunteer  in  the  fer  vice  of  the  revolution^  and  no  mufi 
thought  of  profits  :  hit  when  peace  fjall  give  time  and  oppor- 
tunity for  Jiudy,  the  country  will  deprive  itfclfofthe  honour  and 
fervice  of  letters  and  the  improvemettt  offcience,  unlefs  fuffcient 
laws  are  made  to  prevetit  depredations  on  literary  property.  — 
'^-  It  is  well  worth  remarking,  that  Rujfniy  who  but  a  few  years 
ago,  was  fcarcely  known  in  Europe,  owes  a  large  Jh are  of  her 
prefent  grectnefs  to  the  clofe  attention  Jhe  has  paid,  and  the  wife 
encouragement  fije  has  given,   to  every  branch  of  fcience  and 

i       learning  ;  and  ive  have  almoft  the  fame  injlancs  in  France,  in 

^       the  reign  of  Lewis  the  XIV* 


I    viii     ] 

themfelves,  and  to  make  a  reader  feci,  fancy,  and  under- 
ftandjuftly  at  the  fame  time.  To  call  three  powers  of 
the  mind  into  adion  at  once,  in  a  manner  that  neither 
fhall  interrupt,  and  that  each  fhall  aid  and  vigorate  the 
other,  is  a  talent  very  rarely  poilefled. 

It  often  happens  that  the  weight  of  an  argument  is  loft 
by  the  wit  of  fetting  it  off  j  or  the  judgment  difordered 
by  an  intemperate  irritation  of  the  paffions :  yet  a  certain 
degree  of  animation  muft  be  felt  by  the  writer,  and  raifed 
in  the  reader,  in  order  to  intereft  the  attention  ;  and  a  fuf- 
Jicient  fcope  given  to  the  imagination,  to  enable  it  to  ere— ' 
ate  in  the  mind  a  fight  of  the  perfons,  charafters  and  cir-t 
cumftances  of  the  fubjedl  j  for  without  thefe  the  judgment 
will  feel  little  or  no  excitement  to  office,  and  its  determi- 
nations will  be  cold,  fluggilh,  and  imperfeft.  But  if  either 
or  both  of  the  two  former  are  raifed  too  high,  or  heated 
too  much,  the  judgment  will  be  joftled  from  its  feat,  and 
the  whole  matter,  however  important  in  itfelf,  will  di- 
minifti  into  a  pantomime  of  the  mind,  in  which  we  create 
images  that  promote  no  other  purpofe  than  amufement. 

The  Abbe's  writings  bear  evident  marks  of  that  ex- 
tenfion  and  rapidnefs  of  thinking,  and  quicknefs  of  fenfa- 
tion  which  of  all  others  require  rcvifal,  and  the  more 
particularly  fo,  when  applied  to  the  living  charadlers  of 
nations  or  individuals  in  a  ftate  of  war.  The  leaft  mif- 
information  or  raifconception  leads  to  fome  wrong  con- 
clufion,  and  an  error  believed  becomes  the  progenitor  of 
others.— And  as  the  Abbe  has  fufFered  fome  mconvenien- 
cies  in  France,  by  miftating  certain  circumftances  of  the 
war,  and  the  charadlers  of  the  parties  therein,  it  becomes 
fome  apology  for  him,  that  thofe  errors  were  precipitated 
into  the  world  by  the  avarice  of  an  ungenerous  enemy. 


•J 


/* 


LETTER 


( under- 
wers  of 
neither 
rate  the 


f  1  J 


at  is  loft 

fordered 

certain 

nd  railed 

nd  a  fuf- 

t  to  cre--^ 

and  cir-t 

udgnient 

determi- 

t  if  either 

or  heated 

feat,  and 

will  di- 

we  create 

:ment. 

that  ex- 
1  of  fenfa- 
the  more 
rafters  of 
lead  mif* 
rong  con- 
igenitor  of 
onvenien- 
:es  of  the 
t  becomes 
recipitated 
snemy. 


E 


E      R 


ADDRESSED      TO      THE 


ABBE      R  A  Y  N  A  L 


ON     THE     AFFAIRS     OF 


NORTH*AMERICA, 


TTER 


TO  an  author  of  fuch  diflinguifhed  reputation  A9 
the  Abbe  Raynal,  it  might  very  well  become  me 
to  apologize  for  the  prefent  undertaking;  but  as  to  be 
right  is  the  firft  wifh  of  philofophy,  and  the  firft  principle 
of  hiftory>  he  will,  I  prefume,  accept  from  me  a  declara- 
tion of  my  motives,  which  are  thofe  of  doing  juftice,  in. 
preference  to  any  complimental  apology,  I  might  other- 
wife  make.— The  Abbe,  in  the  courfe  of  his  work,  has, 
in  fom«  inftances^  extolled  without  a  reafon,  and  wounded 
without  a  caufe.  He  has  given  fame  where  it  was  not 
defervcd,  and  withheld  it  where  it  was  juftly  due  ;  and 
appears  to  be  fo  frequently  in  and  out  of  temper  with 

B  his 


I  ?; 


t  «  J 

his  fubjc£ls  ind  parties,  that  few  or  none  of  them  are  dc* 
cifively  and  uniformly  marked. 

It  is  yet  too  foon  to  write  thehiftory  of  the  revolution, 
and  whoever  attempts  it  precipitately,  will  unavoidably 
miftake  charadlers  and  circumflances,  and  involve  himfclf 
in  error  and  difficulty.  Things  like  men  are  feldom  un- 
derftood  rightly  at  firft  fight.  But  the  Abbe  is  wrong 
even  in  the  foundation  of  his  work ;  that  is,  he  has  mif- 
conceived  and  miftated  the  caufes  which  produced  the 
rupture  between  England  and  her  then  colonies,  and 
which  led  on,  ftep  by  flep,  unftudied  and  uncontrived  on 
the  part  of  America,  to  a  revolution,  which  has  engaged 
the  attention,  and  affected  the  intereft,  of  Europe. 

To  prove  this,  I  (hall  bring  forward  a  paflTage,  which, 
though  placed  towards  the  latter  part  of  the  Abbe's  work, 
is  more  intimately  conne6led  with  the  beginning;  and  in 
■which,  fpeaking  of  the  original  caufe  of  the  difpute,  he 
declares  himfelf  in  the  following  manner— 

*'  None,"  fays  he,  "  of  thofe  energetic  caufes,  which 
**  have  proiluced  fo  many  revolutions  upon  the  globe, 
**  exillcd  in  North-America.  Neither  religion  nor  laws 
*'  had  there  been  outraged.  The  blood  of  martyrs  or 
"  patriots  had  not  there  dreamed  from  fcafFolds.  Morals 
**  had  not  there  been  infulted.  Manners,  cuftoms,  ha- 
**  bits,  no  obje«5l  dear  to  nations,  had  there  been  the  fport 
"  of  ridicule.  Arbitrary  power  had  not  there  torn  any 
inhabitant  from  the  arms  of  his  family  and  his  friends, 
to  drag  him  to  a  dreary  dungeon.  Public  order  had 
not  been  there  inverted.  The  principles  of  adminiftra- 
tion  had  not  been  changed  there  i  and  the  maxims  of 

govern- 


<( 


(C 


<c 


li 


i 


« 


(( 


i 


r  3  J 

*^  government  had   there  always  remained  the  fame. 

•*  The  whole  queftion  was  reduced  to  the  knowing 
whether  the  mother  country  had,  or  had  not  a  right 
to  lay,  dircdly  or  indiredly,  a  flight  tax  upon  the 

**  colonies." 


cc 


(( 


On  this  extraordinary  paflage,  it  may  not  be  impro- 
per, in  general  terms,  to  remark,  that  none  can  feel  like 
thofe  who  fufFer  j  and  that  for  a  man  to  be  a  competent 
.*;  judge  of  the  provrocative,  or  as  the  Abbe  ftiles  them, 

I  the  energetic  caufes  of  the  revolution,  he  muft  have  re- 

J  fided  in  America.  ^ 

The  Abbe  in  faying  that  the  feveral  particulars  he  has 
enumerated,  did  not  exid  in  America,  and  neglecting  to 
point  out  the  particular  period,  in  which  he  means  they 
did  not  exift,  reduces  thereby  his  declaration  to  a  nullity, 
by  taking  away  all  meaning  from  the  pafl'age. 

They  did  not  exift  in  1763,  and  they  all  exifted  be- 
fore 1776  ;  confequently  as  there  was  a  time  when  they 
did  noty  and  another  when  they  did  exift,  the  t'vne  when 
conftitutes  the  eflence  of  the  faft,  and  not  to  give  it,  is 
to  withhold  the  only  evidence,  which  proves  the  declara- 
tion right  or  wrong,  and  on  which  it  muft  ftand  or  fall. 
But  the  declaration,  as  it  now  appears,  unaccomp  mied 
by  time,  has  an  efFed  in  holding  out  to  the  world,  that 
there  was  no  real  caufe  for  the  revolution,  becaufe  it  der 
nies  the  exiftence  of  all  thofe  caufes,  which  are  fuppofed 
to  be  ju^ifiable,  and  which  the  Abbe  ftiles  energetic. 

I  CONFESS  myfelf  exceedingly  at  alofs  to  find  out  the 
time  to  which  the  Abbe  alludes  j  becaufe,  in  another  part 
of  the  work,  in  fpeaking  of  the  ftamp  ad,  which  was 

B  2  pafied 


-I  ! 


t   4   J 

pafled  in  1764,  he  ftiles  it  "  An  ufurpation  of  the  Ame-o 
ricans  moji  precious  and  f acred  rights"  Confcquently  he 
here  admits  the  moft  energetic  of  all  caufes,  that  is,  an 
pfurpation  of  their  maji  precious  and  f acred  rights,  to  have 
exifted  in  America  twelve  years  before  the  declaration 
of  independence,  and  ten  years  before  the  breaking  out 
of  hoftilities. — The  time,  therefore,  in  which  the  para- 
graph is  true,  muft  be  antecedent  to  the  flamp  aft,  but 
as  at  that  time  there  was  no  revolution  nor  any  idea  of 
pne,  it  confequently  applies  without  a  meaning  j  and  as 
it  cannot,  on  the  Abbe's  own  principle,  be  applied  to 
any  time  after  the  ftamp  aft,  it  is  therefore  a  wandering 
folitary  paragraph  connefted  with  nothing  and  at  va- 
riance with  every  thing. 

The  ftamp  aft,  it  is  true,  was  repealed  in  two  years 
after  it  was  pafled,  but  it  was  immediately  followed  by 
pne  of  infinitely  more  mifchievous  magnitude,  I  mean 
the  declaratory  aft,  which  aflerted  the  right,  as  it  was 
lliled,  of  the  Brit|fh  Parliament,  "  to  bind  Jmerica  in  all 
iafes  whatjoever*' 

If  then  the  flamp  aft  was  an  ufurpation  of  the  Ame- 
ricans moft  precious  and  facred  rights,  the  declaratory 
aft  left  them  no  right  at  all ;  and  contained  the  full 
grown  feeds  of  the  moft  defpotic  government  ever  exer- 
cifed  in  the  world.  It  placed  America  not  only  in  the 
loweft,  but  in  the  bafeft  ftate  of  vaflalagej  becaufe  it 
demanded  an  unconditional  fubmiflion  in  every  thing, 
or  as  the  aft  exprefles  it,  in  all  ccfes  whatfoever :  And 
what  renders  this  aft  the  mere  oftcnfivc,  is,  that  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  pafled  as  an  aft  of  mercy  j  truly  then 
it  may  be  faid,  that  the  tender  mercies  of  the  wicked  are 
crneL 

Ail 


.ill 


m 


T   5  1 

All  the  original  charters  from  the  Crown  of  Eng- 
land, under  the  faith  of  which,  the  adventurers  from 
the  old  woild  fettled  in  the  new,  were  by  this  adt  dif- 
placed  from  their  foundations  j  becaufe,  contrary  to  the 
nature  of  them,  which  was  that  of  a  compad,  they  were 
now  made  fubjedl  to  repeal  or  alteration  at  the  mere  will 
of  one  party  only.  The  whole  condition  pf  America 
was  thus  put  mto  the  hands  of  the  Parliament  or  the 
Miniftry,  without  leaving  to  her  the  leaft  right  in  any 
cafe  whatfoever. 


Ail 


There  is  no  defpotifm  to  which  this  iniquitous  law 
did  not  extend  ;  and  though  it  might  have  been  conve- 
nient in  the  execution  of  it,  to  have  confulted  manners 
and  habits,  the  principle  of  the  adt  made  all  tyranny 
legal.  It  ftopt  nowhere.  It  went  to  every  thing.  It 
took  in  with  it  the  whole  life  of  a  man,  or,  if  I  may  fo 
exprefs  it,  an  eternity  of  circumftances.  It  is  the  na- 
ture of  law  to  require  obedience,  but  this  demanded  fer- 
vitudej  and  the  condition  of  an  American,  under  the 
operation  of  it,  was  not  that  of  a  fubje6l,  but  a  vafial. 
Tyranny  has  often  been  eftabliflied  without  law,  and 
fometimes  againji  it,  but  the  hiftory  of  mankind  does 
not  produce  another  inftance,  in  which  it  has  been  efta- 
blilhed  by  law.  It  is  an  audacious  outrage  upon  civil 
government,  and  cannot  be  too  much  expofed,  in  order 
to  be  fufficiently  detefted. 

Neither  could  i:  be  faid  after  this,  that  the  lesifla- 
ture  of  that  country  any  longer  made  laws  for  this,  but 
that  it  gave  out  commands ;  for  wherein  differed  an  a6l 
ofParliamentconftruded  on  this  principle,  and  operat- 
ing in  this  manner,  over  an  unreprefented  people,  from 
the  orders  of  a  military  eftablifliment  ? 

The 


[    6    ] 


[ 


The  Parliament  of  England,  with  refytd:  to  Ame- 
rica, was  not  feptennial  but  perpetual.  It  appeared  to 
the  latter  a  body  always  in  being.  Its  eledion  or  its 
expiration  were  to  her  the  fame  as  if  its  members  fuc- 
ceeded  by  inheritance,  or  went  out  by  death,  or  lived 
for  ever,  or  were  appointed  to  it  as  a  matter  of  office. 
Therefore,  for  the  people  of  England  to  have  any  jiiit 
conception  of  the  mind  of  America,  refpc<^ing  this  ex- 
traordinary a6l,  they  muft  fuppofe  all  election  and  ex- 
piration in  that  country  to  ceafc  for  ever,  and  the  pre- 
fent  Parliament,  its  heirs,  &c.  to  be  perpetual  j  in  this 
cafe,  I  aflc,  what  would  the  moft  clamorous  of  them 
think,  were  an  z6k  to  be  paflld,  declaring  the  right  of 
fuch  a  Parliament  to  bind  them  in  all  cafes  whatfoever  ? 
For  this  word  whatfoever  would  go  as  effedlually  to 
their  Magna  Charta,  Bill  of  Rights,  'Trial  by  Juries,  &c. 
as  it  went  to  the  charters  and  forms  of  government  in 
America. 

I  AM  perfuaded,  that  the  Gentleman  to  whom  I  ad- 
drefs  thefe  remarics,  will  not,  after  the  paffing  this  a£t, 
fay,  '*  That  the  principles  of  adminiftration  had  not  been 
**  changed  in  America,  and  that  the  maxims  of  govern- 
**  mcnt  had  there  been  always  the  fame.*'  For  here  is, 
in  principle,  a  total  overthrow  of  the  whole  j  and  not  a 
fubverfion  only,  but  an  annihilation  of  the  foundation 
of  liberty,  and  abfolute  domination  eftablifhed  in  its 
ftead. 

The  Abbe  likewife  dates  the  cafe  exceedingly  wrong 
and  injurioufly,  when  he  fays,  *'  that  the  whole  queftion 
**  was  reduced  to  the  knowing:  whether  the  mother 
•*  country  had,  or  had  not,  a  right  to  lay,  directly  or  in- 
**  diredlly,  a  flight  tax  upon  the  colonicSt"  —  This  was 

mt 


I 


C 

c 
I 

a 


r'l 


r  7  ] 

not  the  whole  of  the  queftion  j  neither  was  the  quantity  of 
the  tax  the  obje£i;,  either  to  the  Miniftry  or  to  the  Ame- 
ricans. It  was  the  principle,  of  which  the  tax  made 
but  a  part,  and  the  quantity  ftill  lefs,  that  formed  the 
ground  on  which  America  oppofed. 

The  tax  on  tea,  which  is  the  tax  here  alluded  to, 
was  neither  more  or  lefs  than  an  experiment  to  eftablifli 
the  pradice  of  the  declaratory  law  upon ;  modelled  into 
the  more  fafliionable  nhrafe  of  the  univerfal  futremacy  of 
Parliament,  i'or  until  this  time,  the  declaratory  law 
had  lain  dormant,  and  the  framers  of  it  had  contented 
themfelves  with  barely  declaring  an  opinion. 

Therefore  the  whole  queftion  with  America,  in  tre 
opening  of  the  difpute,  was.  Shall  we  be  bound  in  all 
cafes  whatfocver  by  the  Britifli  parliament,  or  fhall  we 
not  ?  For  fubmillion  to  the  tea  or  tax  a£i  implied  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  declaratory  a6l,  or,  in  other 
words,  of  the  univerfal  fupremacy  of  Parliament,  which, 
as  they  never  intended  to  do,  it  was  neceffary  they 
fhould  oppofe  it,  in  its  firft  ftage  of  execution. 

It  is  probable,  the  Abbe  has  been  led  into  this  mif- 
take  by  perufing  detached  pieces  in  fome  of  the  Ameri- 
can news-papers  j  for,  in  a  cafe  where  all  were  inte- 
refted,  every  one  had  a  right  to  give  his  opinion  j  and 
there  v/ere  many  who,  with  the  beft  intentions,  did  not 
•hufe  the  beft,  nor  indeed  the  true  ground,  to  defend 
their  caufe  upon.  They  felt  themfelves  right  by  a  ge- 
neral impulfe,  without  being  able  to  feparate,  analyze, 
and  arrange  the  parts. 

I  AM  fomewhat  unwilling  to  examine  too  minutely  into 

the 


[     8     ] 

the  whole  of  this  extraordinary  pafl*age  of  the  Ab-e,  left 
I  (hould  appear  to  treat  it  with  feverity  otherwife  I  could 
(how  that  not  a  fingle  declaration  is  juftly  founded  :  For 
inftance,  the  reviving  an  obfolete  z6t  of  the  reign  of  Hen- 
ry the  eighth,  and  fitting  it  to  the  Americans,  by  autho- 
rity of  which  they  were  to  be  feized  and  brought  from 
America  to  England,  and  there  imprifoiied  and  tried  for 
any  fuppofed  offences,  was,  in  the  worft  fenfe  of  the 
words,  to  tear  them,  by  the  arbitrary  power  of  Parliament y 
from  the  arms  of  their  families  and  friends,  and  drag  them 
not  only  to  dreary  but  difiant  dungeons.  Yet  this  aft  was 
contrived  feme  years  before  the  breakingout  of  hoftilities. 
And  again,  though  the  blood  of  martyrs  and  patriots  had 
not  ftreamed  on  the  fcaffolds,  it  ftreamed  in  the  ftreets, 
in  the  maflacre  of  the  inhabitants  of  Bofton,  by  the  Bri- 
tifh  foldicry  in  the  year  1770. 


I 


Had  the  Abbe  faid  that  the  caufes  which  produced  the 
revolution  in  Americawereoriginally  <://^r^«/from  thofc 
which  produced  revolutions  in  other  parts  of  the  globe, 
he  had  been  right.  Here  the  value  and  quality  of  liberty, 
the  nature  of  government,  and  the  dignity  of  man,  were 
knov/n  and  underftood,  and  the  attachment  of  the  Ame- 
ricans to  thefe  principles  produced  the  revolution  as  a 
natural  and  almoft  unavoidable  confequence.  They  had 
no  particular  family  to  fet  up  or  pull  down.  Nothing  of 
porfonality  Vt^as  incorporated  with  their  caufe.  They 
ftarted  even-handed  with  each  other,  and  went  no  fafter 
into  the  feveral  ftages  of  it,  than  they  were  driven  by  the 
unrelenting  and  imperious  condu6i:  of  Britain.  Nay,  in 
the  laft  aft,  the  declaration  of  independence,  they  had 
nearly  been  too  late ;  for  had  it  not  been  declared  at  the 
exaft  time  it  was,  I  fee  no  period  in  their  afEiiirs  fince,  in 

which 


I* 

'it 


[    9    ] 

which  it  Could  have  been  declared  with  the  fame  gffc^^ 
and  probably  not  at  all. 

But  the  objedk  being  formed  before  the  r-verfe  of  for- 
tune took  place,  that  is,  before  the  operations  of  the 
gloomy  campaign  of  1776,  their  honor,  their  intereft, 
their  every  thing  called  loudly  on  them  to  maintain  it  5 
and  that  glow  of  thought  and  energy  of  heart,  which 
even  a  diftant  profpeft  of  independence  infpires,  gave 
confidence  to  their  hopes  and  refolution  to  their  con- 
duft,  which  a  ftate  of  dependence  could  never  have 
reached.  They  looked  forward  to  happier  days  and  fcenes 
of  reft,  and  qualified  thcbardfhips  of  the  campaign  by  con- 
templating the  eftabliihment  of  their  new  born  fyftem. 

If  on  the  other  hand,  we  take  a  review  of  what  part 
Britain  has  adled,  we  iliall  find  every  thing  which  ought 
to  make  a  nation  blufli.  The  moft  vulgar  abufe,  accom- 
panied by  that  fpecies  of  haughtinefs,  which  diftin- 
guifhes  the  hero  of  a  mob  from  the  character  of  a  gentle- 
man ;  it  was  equally  as  much  from  her  manners  as  from 
her  injuftice  that  fhe  loft  the  colonies.  By  the  latter 
ihe  provoked  their  principles,  by  the  former  ihe  wore  out 
their  temper;  and  it  ought  to  be  held  out  as  an  example 
to  the  world,  to  (how,  how  necelTary  it  is  to  conduit  the 
bufinefs  of  government  with  civility.  In  fhort,  other 
revolutions  may  have  originated  in  caprice  or  generated 
in  ambition ;  but  here,  the  moft  unofi^ending  humility 
was  tortured  into  rage,  and  the  infancy  of  exiftence 
made  to  weep. 

A  UNION  fo  extenfive,  continued  and  determined,  fuf- 
fering  with  patience  and  never  in  defpair,  could  not  have 
l^een  produced  by  common  caufes.  It  muft  befomething 

j^C  capable 


[      10      ] 

capable  of  reaching  the  whole  foul  of  man  and  arming  h 
with  perpetual  energy.  In  vain  is  it  to  look  for  prece- 
dents among  the  revolutions  of  former  ages,  to  find  out, 
by  comparifon,  the  caufes  of  this.  The  fpring,  the  pro- 
grefs,  the  obje£l,  the  confequences,  nay,  the  men,  their 
habits  of  thinking,  and  all  the  circumftances  of  the 
country  are  different.  Thofe  of  other  nations  are,  in 
general,  little  more  than  the  hiftory  of  their  quarrels. 
They  are  marked  by  no  important  character  in  the  annals 
of  events  ;  mixi^  .n  the  mafs  of  general  matters  they  oc- 
cupy but  a  common  pa^e ;  and  while  the  chief  of  the 
fuccefsful  partizans  fleptinto  power,  the  plundered  mul- 
titude fat  down  and  forrowed.  Few,  very  few  of  them 
are  accompanied  with  reformation,  either  in  government 
or  manners  J  many  of  them  with  the  moft  confummate 
profligacy.  Triumph  oh  the  one  fide  and  mifery  on  the 
other  were  the  only  events.  Pains,  puniHiments,  tor- 
ture, and  death  were  made  the  bufinefs  of  mankind, 
until  companion,  the  fairefl:  alTociate  of  the  heart,  was 
driven  from  its  place,  and  the  eye,  accuftomed  to  conti- 
nual cruelty,  could  behold  it  without  offence. 

But  as  the  principles  of  the  prefent  revolution  dif- 
fered from  thofe  which  preceded  it,  fo  likcwife  has  the 
condmSt  of  America  both  in  government  and  war. 
Neither  the  foul  finger  of  difgrace  nor  the  bloody 
hand  of  vengeance  has  hitherto  put  a  blot  upon  her 
fame.  Her  vidlories  have  received  luftrefrom  a  great- 
nefs  of  lenity ;  and  her  Jaws  been  permitted  to  flumber, 
v.hi're  they  might  juftly  have  awakened  to  punifh.' 
War,  fo  much  the  trade  of  the  world,  has  here  been  only 
the  bufinefs  of  hecefTity ;  and  when  the  neceifity  (hall 
ccafe,  her  very  cncnjies  muft  confefs,  that  as  Ihc  drew 

...  .    tha 


1  , 


the  fword  in  her  juft  defence,  flie  ufed  it  without  cruelty, 
and  fheathed  it  without  revenge. 

As  it  is  not  my  defign  to  extend  thefe  remarks  to  a 
hiftory,  I  {hall  now  take  my  leave  of  this  paffage  of  the 
Abbe,  with  an  obfervation,  which  until  fomething  un- 
folds itfclf  to  convince  me  otherwife,  I  cannot  avoid  be- 
lieving to  be  true  ;— which  is,  that  it  was  the  fixt  de- 
termination of  the  Britiih  cabinet  to  quarrel  with  Ame- 
rica at  all  events. 


.  They  (the  members  who  compofe  the  cabinet)  had 
no  doubt  of  fuccefs,  if  they  could  once  bring  it  to  the 
iflue  of  a  battle ;  and  they  expelled  from  a  conqucft, 
what  they  could  neither  propofe  with  decency,  nor  hope 
for  by  negociation.     The  charters  and  conftitutions  of 
the  colonies  were  become  to  them  matters  of  offence, 
and  their  rapid  progrefs  in  property  and  population  were 
difguftingly  beheld  as  the  growing  and  natural  means  of 
independence.     They  faw  no  way  to  retain  them  long 
but  by  reducing  them  in  time.     A  conqueft  would  at 
once  have  made  them  both  lords  and  landlords;  and 
put  them  in  pofleffion  both  of  the  revenue  and  the  rental* 
The  whole  trouble  of  government  would  have  ccafed 
in  a  vi(Sl:ory,  and  a  final  end  been  put  to  remonftrance 
and  debate.    The  experience  of  the  ftamp  adt  had  taught 
them  how  to  quarrel  with  the  advantages  of  cover  and 
convenience,  and  they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  renew 
the  fcene,  and  put  coi^tention  into   motion.      They 
hoped  for  a  rebellion,  and  they  made  one.     They  ex- 
pe(Sled  a  declaration,  of  independence,  and  they  were  not 
difappointed.     But  after  this,  they  looked  for  viftory, 
and  they  obtained  a  defeat. 

C  2  If 


-'A 


I>  i 


i 
■A 


I     12     ] 

If  this  be  taken  as  the  generating  caufe  of  the  conteft, 
then  is  every  part  of  the  condudl  of  the  Britifh  Miniftry 
confiftent  from  the  commencement  of  the  difpute,  until 
the  figning  the  treaty  of  Paris,  after  which,  conqueft 
becoming  doubtful,  they  retreated  to  negociation,  and 
were  again  defeated. 

-  Tho'  the  Abbe  pofleffes  and  difplays  great  powers  of 
genius,  and  is  a  mailer  of  ftile  and  language,  he  feems 
not  to  pay  equal  attention  to  the  office  of  an  hiflorian. 
His  fadls  are  coldly  and  carelefsly  ftated.  They  neither 
inform  the  reader  nor  intereft  him.  Many  of  them  are 
erroneous,  and  moll:  of  them  defective  and  obfcure.  It 
is  undoubtedly  both  an  ornament  and  a  ufeful  addition  to 
hiftory  to  accompany  it  with  maxims  and  reflecSlions. 
They  afford  likewifc  an  agreeable  change  to  the  ftile  and 
a  more  diverfified  manner  of  expreffion  j  but  it  is  abfo- 
lutely  neceffary  that  the  root  from  whence  they  fpring, 
or  the  foundations  on  which  they  are  raifed,  fhould  be 
well  attended  to,  which  in  this  work  they  are  not.  The 
Abbe  haftens  through  his  narrations  as  if  he  was  glad 
to  get  from  them,  that  he  may  enter  the  more  copious 
field  of  eloquence  and  imagination. 

The  aftions  of  Trenton  and  Princeton  in  New- 
Jcrfey,  in  December  1776,  and  January  following,  on 
which  the  fate  of  America  ftood  for  a  while  trembling 
on  the  point  of  fufpence,  and  from  which  the  moft  im- 
portant confequences  followed,  are  comprifed  within  a 
fmgle  paragraph  faintly  conceived,  and  barren  of  cba- 
jra«5ler,  circumftance  and  defcription. 


♦*  On  the  25th  of  December,"  fays  the  Abbe,  "  they 

<«  (the 


[  IJ  ] 


•*  (the  Americans)  croffed  the  Delaware,  and  fell  acei" 
**  dentally  upon  Trenton,  which  was  occupied  by  fifteen 
**  hundred  of  the  twelve  thoufand  HefHans,  fold  in  fo 
'*  bafe  a  manner  by  their  avaricious  mafter,  to  the  King 
*'  of  Great  Britain.  This  corps  was  majfacred,  taken, 
•*  ordifperfed.  Eight  days  after,  three  Englifli  regiments 
**  were  in  like  manner  driven  from  Princeton,  but  after 
**  having  better  fupported  their  reputation  than  the  fo- 
reign troops  in  their  pay, 


« 


»» 


This  is  all  the  account  which  is  given  of  thefe  moft 
interefting  events.    The  Abbe  has  preceded  them  by  two 
or  three  pages  on  the  military  operations  of  both  armies, 
from  the  time  of  General  Howe  arriving  before  New- 
York  from  Halifax,  and  the  vaft  reinforcements  of  Bri- 
tifh  and  foreign  troops  with  Lord  Howe  from  England. 
But  in  thefe,  there  is  fomuch  miftake,  and  fo  many  omif- 
fions,  that,  to  fet  them  right,  muft  be  the  bufinefs  of  hif- 
tory  and  not  of  a  letter.    The  aftion  of  Long-Ifland  is 
but  barely  hinted  at,  and  the  operations  at  the  White 
Plains  wholly  omitted  :  as  are  likewife  the  attack  and  lofs 
of  fort  Wafhington,  with  a  garrifon  of  about  two  thou* 
iand  five  hundred  men,  and  the  precipitate  evacuation  of 
Fort  Lee,  in  confequence  thereof;  which  lofles  were  in 
a  great  meafure  the  caufe  of  the  retreat  through  the  Jer- 
fies  to  the  Delaware,  a  diflance  of  about  ninety  miles. 
Neither  is  the  manner  of  the  retreat  defcribed,  which, 
from  the  feafon  of  the  year,  the  nature  of  the  country, 
the  nearnefs  of  the  two  armies,  (fometimes  within  fight 
and  (hot  of  each  other  for  fuch  a  length  of  way)  the  rear 
of  the  one  employed  in  pulling  down  bridges,  and  the 


van  of  the  other  in  building  them  up,  muft  neceffari 
accompanied  with  many  interefting  circumftances. 


ly  be 


It 


"  111 

71 


.A 

■,v. 


,  i 


ill: 


;  1 


I.   f 
I 


[Hi 

It  was  a  period  of  diflrefTes.  A  crifts  rather  of  danger 
tihan  of  hope.  There  is  no  defcription  can  do  it  judice ; 
^nd  even  the  actors  in  it,  looking  back  upon  the  fcene, 
are  furprifed  how  they  got  through ;  and  at  a  lofs  to 
account  for  thofe  powers  of  the  mind  and  fprings  of  ani- 
ijfiation,  by  which  they  withftood  the  fqrce  of  accumu- 
lated misfortune. 


It  was  expelled,  that  the  time  for  which  the  army  was 
inlifted,  would  carry  the  campaign  fofar  into  the  winter, 
that  the  feverity  of  the  feafon,  and  the  confequcnt  condi- 
tion of  the  roads,  would  prevent  any  material  operation 
of  the  enemy,  until  the  new  army  could  be  raifed  for  the 
next  year.  And  I  mention  it,  as  a  matter  worthy  of  atten- 
tion, by  all  future  hiflorians,  that  the  movements  of  the 
American  army,  until  the  attack  upon  the  Heflian  poll 
at  Trenton,  the  26th  of  December,  are  to  be  confidercd 
as  operating  to  effed:  no  other  principal  purpofe  than 
de]ay,  and  to  wear  away  the  campaign  under  all  the  dif^ 
advantages  of  an  unequal  force,  with  as  little  misfortunq 
as  poiTible. 


<  ) 


But  the  lofs  of  the  garrifon  at  fortWafliington  on  tho 
l6th  of  November,  and  the  expiration  of  the  time  of  a, 
confiderable  part  of  the  army,  fo  early  as  the  30th  of  the 
iame  month,  and  which  were  to  be  followed  by  almoft 
daily  expirations  afterwards,  made  retreat  the  only  final 
expedient.  To  thcfecircumftances  may  be  added  the  for- 
lorn and  deflitute  condition  of  the  few  that  remained  j  for 
the  garrifon  of  Fort  Lee,  which  compofed  almoft  thq 
whole  of  the  retreat,  had  been  obliged  to  abandon  it  fo 
inftantaneoufly,  that  every  article  of  ftores  and  baggage 
was  left  behind,  and  in  thisdeftitute  condition,  without 
t^pt  or  blanket,  and  without  any  other  utenhls  to  drefs 
1  their 


t  'J  1 

their  provifion,  than  what  they  procured  by  the  way, 
they  performed  a  march  of  about  ninety  miles,  and  had 
the  addrefs  and  management  to  prolong  it  to  the  fpace 
of  nineteen  days. 

By  this  unexpe^ed  or  rathenlnthought  of  turn  of  af- 
fairs, the  country  was  in  an  inftant  furprifed  into  con- 
fufion,  and  found  an  enemy  within  its  bowels,  without 
an  army  to  oppofe  him.  There  were  no  fuccours  to  be 
had,  but  from  the  free-will  offering  of  the  inhabitants* 
All  was  choice,  and  every  man  reafoned  for  himfelf. 

It  was  in  this  fituation  of  affairs,  equally  calculated 
to  confound  or  to  infpire,  that  the  gentleman,  the  mer* 
chant,  the  farmer,  the  tradefman,  and  the  labourer  mu<* 
tually  turned  from  all  the  conveniencies  of  home,  to 
perform  the  duties  of  private  foldiers,  and  undergo  the 
feverities  of  a  winter  campaign.  The  delay,  fo  judici-* 
aufly  contrived  on  the  retreat,  afforded  time  for  the  vo-* 
lunteer  reinforcements  to  join  General  Walhington  on 
the  Delaware. 


The  Abbe  is  likewife  wrong  in  faying,  that  the  Ame« 
rican  army  fell  accidentally  on  Trenton.  It  was  the  very 
object  for  which  General  Wafliington  crofTed  the  Dela-< 
ware  in  the  dead  of  the  night  and  in  the  midfl:  of  fnow^ 
ftorms,  and  ice;  and  which  he  immediately  recroffed 
with  his  prifoners,  as  foon  as  he  had  accomplifhed  his 
purpofe.  Neither  was  the  intended  enterprife  a  fecret 
to  the  enemy,  information  having  been  fent  of  it  by 
letter,  from  a  Britilh  Officer  at  Princeton,  to  Colonel 
Rolle,  who  commanded  the  Hefllans  at  Trenton,  which 
letter  was  afterwards  found  by  the  Americans.  Never- 
thelefs  the  poft  was  completely  furprifed.    A  fmall  cir* 

cumftatice, 


f    «6    ] 

cumftance,  which  had  the  appearance  of  miftake  on  the 
part  of  the  Americans,  led  to  a  more  capital  and  real 
miftake  on  the  part  of  Rolle« 

The  cafe  was  this.  A  detachment  of  twenty  or  thirty 
Americans  had  heen  fent  acrofs  the  river  from  a  poft,  a 
few  miles  above,  by  an  Officer  unacquainted  with  the 
Intended  attack ;  thefe  were  met  by  a  body  of  Heifians 
on  the  night,  to  which  the  information  pointed,  which 
was  Chriftmas  night,  and  repulfed.  Nothing  further 
appearing,  and  the  Heifians,  miftaking  this  for  the  ad- 
vanced party,  fuppofed  the  enterprifedifconcerted,  which 
at  that  time  was  not  began,  and  under  this  idea,  re- 
turned to  their  quarters;  fo  that,  what  might  have  raifed 
an  alarm,  and  brought  the  Americans  into  an  ambufcade, 
ferved  to  take  nff  the  force  of  an  information,  and  pro- 
mote the  fuccefs  of  the  enterprife.  Soon  after  day-light 
General  Wafhington  entered  the  town,  and  after  a  little 
oppofition,  made  himfelf  mafter  of  it,  with  upwards  of 
nine  hundred  prifoners* 

This  combination  of  equivocal  circumftances,  falling 
within  what  the  Abbe  ftiles  *'  the  wide  empire  of  chance i** 
would  have  afforded  a  fine  field  for  thought,  and  I  wifh, 
for  the  fake  of  that  elegance  of  refle£Uon  he  is  fo  capable 
of  ufmg,  that  he  had  known  it.    .    .     .;  j 

But  the  a^ion  at  Princeton  was  accompanied  by  a  ftill 
greater  embarrafiment  of  matters,  and  followed  by  more 
extraordinary  confequences.  The  Americans,  by  a  hap- 
py iiroke  of  generalihip,  in  this  inftance,  not  only  de- 
ranged and  defeated  all  the  plans  of  the  Britiih,  in  the 
intended  moment  of  execution,  but  drew  from  their  poile 
the  enemy  they  were  not  able  to  drive^  and  obliged  them 

to 


[     '7    ] 

to  clofc  the  campaign.  As  the  c'ucumflancc  is  a  curlofity 
in  war,  and  not  well  untlcrilood  in  Europe,  I  fliall,  &•> 
concifely  as  I  can,  relate  the  principal  parts;  they  may 
fcrve  to  prevent  future  hillorians  from  error,  and  recover 
f'rom  forgetfuinefs  a  fcene  of  magnificent  to*  tituJe. 

Immediately  after  the  furprize  of  the  Hc/Ilans  at 
Trenton,  General  Wafhington  rccrofl'cd  the  Delaware, 
which  at  this  place  is  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  over, 
and.reaflumed  his  former  port  on  the  Pcnnfylvania  fide, 
Trenton  remained  unoccupied,  and  the  enemy  were  ported 
at  Princeton,  twelve  miles  diftant,  on  the  road  towards 
New- York.  The  weather  was  now  growing  very  fevere, 
and  as  there  were  very  few  houfes  near  the  fliorc  where 
General  Wafhington  had  taken  his  ftation,  the  greatcft 
part  of  his  army  remained  out  in  the  woods  and  fields. 
Thefe,  with  fome  other  circumftances,  induced  the  re- 
crofling  the  Delaware  and  taking  poireflion  of  Trenton, 
It  was  undoubtedly  a  bold  adventure,  and  carried  with 
it  the  appearance  of  defiance,  cfpecially  when  we  con- 
fider  the  panic  flruck  condition  of  the  enemy  on  the  lofs 
of  the  HciTian  poft*  But  in  order  to  give  a  juft  idea  of 
the  affair,  it  is  necefliiry  I  Ihould  dcfcribe  the  place. 


iH    f 


■n 


I 


Trenton  is  fituated  on  a  rifing  ground,  about  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  difliant  fiom  the  Delaware,  on  the 
caftern  or  Jerfcy  fide  j  and  is  cut  into  two  divifions  by  a 
fmall  creek  or  rivulet,  fufncient  to  turn  a  mill  which  is 
on  it,  after  which  it  empties  itfelf  at  nearly  right  angles 
into  the  Delaware.  The  upper  divifion  which  is  to  the 
north  eaft,  contains  about  feventy  or  eighty  houfes,  and 
the  lower  about  forty  or  fifty.  The  ground  on  each  fide 
this  creek,  and  on  which  the  houfes  are,  is  Ukcwife  rifing, 
and  the  two  divifions  prcfent  an  agreeable  profpcd  to 


'■'f 


•''•J  I 


p 


each 


■mK  I 


I 

¥'■  I 

II 


[      1«     ] 

each  other,  with  the  creek  between,  on  which  there  is  a 
fmall  flone  bridge  of  one  arch. 


!  I 


ScAPCELY  had  General  Wafliington  taken  poft  here, 
and  before  the  feveral  parties  of  militia,  out  on  detach- 
ments, or  on  their  way,  could  be  collefted,  than  the 
Britifh,  leaving  behind  them  a  ftrong  garrifon  at  Prince- 
ton, marched  fuddenly  and  entered  Trenton  at  the  up- 
per or  north  eaft  quarter.  A  party  of  the  Americans 
fkirmifhed  with  the  advanced  party  of  the  Britilh,  to 
afford  time  for  removing  the  ftores  and  baggage,  and 
withdrawing  over  the  bridge. 

In  a  little  time  the  Britifli  had  pbfleflion  of  one  half  of 
the  town.  General  Wafliington  of  the  other,  and  the 
creek  only  feparated  the  two  armies.  Nothing  could  be 
a  more  critical  fituation  than  this,  and  if  ever  the  fate  of 
America  depended  on  the  event  of  a  day,  it  was  now. 
The  Delaware  was  filling  faft  with  large  fheets  of  driv- 
ing ice  and  was  impaflable,  fo  that  no  retreat  into  Penn- 
fylvania  could  be  efFe6ted,  neither  is  it  poflible,  in  the 
face  of  an  enemy,  to  pafs  a  river  of  fuch  extent.  The 
roads  were  broken  and  rugged  with  the  froft,  and  the 
main  road  was  occupied  by  the  enemy. 

About  four  o'clock  a  party  of  tl.  Pritifli  approached 
the  bridge,  with  a  defign  to  gain  it,  out  were  rcpulfcd. 
They  made  no  more  attempts,  though  the  creek  itfelf  is 
paffable  any  where  between  the  bridge  and  the  Delaware. 
It  runs  in  a  rugged  natural  made  ditch,  over  which  a 
perfon  may  pafs  with  little  difficulty,  the  ftream  being 
rapid  and  (liallow.  Evening  was  now  coming  on,  and 
the  Britifli,  believing  they  had  all  the  advantages  they 
could  wifli  for,  and  that  they  rould  ufe  them  when  they 

pleafed. 


If!' 


[    19    3 

pleafed,  difcontinued  all  further  operations,  and  held 
themfelves  prepared  to  make  the  attack  next  morning. 

But  the  next  morning  produced  a  fcene,  as  elegant  as 
it  was  unexpected.  The  Britifh  were  under  arms  and 
ready  to  march  to  adlion,  when  one  of  their  light-horfe 
from  Princeton  came  furioufly  down  the  ftreet,  with  an 
account,  that  General  Wafhington  had  that  morning 
attacked  and  carried  the  Britifh  pofl  at  that  place,  and 
was  proceeding  on  to  feize  the  magazine  at  Brunfwick  ; 
on  which  the  Britifh,  who  were  then  on  the  point  of 
making  an  alTault  on  the  evacuated  camp  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, wheeled  about,  and  in  a  fit  of  condernation 
marched  for  Princeton. 


.i'M 


This  retreat  is  one  of  thofe  extraordinary  circum- 
ftances,  that  in  future  ages  may  probably  pafs  for  fable. 
For  it  will  with  difficulty  be  believed,  that  two  armies, 
on  which  fuch  important  confequences  depended,  fhould 
be  crouded  into  fo  fmall  a  fpace  as  Trenton,  and  that 
the  one,  on  the  eve  of  an  engagement,  when  every  ear  is 
fuppofed  to  be  open,  and  every  watchfulnefs  employed, 
fhould  move  completely  from  the  ground,  with  all  its 
ftores,  baggage,  and  artillery,  unknown  and  even  unfuf- 
pe6tcd  by  the  other.  And  fo  entirely  were  the  Britifh 
deceived,  that  when  they  heard  the  report  of  the  cannon 
and  fmall  arms  at  Princeton,  they  fuppofed  it  to  be 
thunder,  though  in  the  depth  of  winter. 

Gener  Ai,  Wafhington9  the  better  to  cover  and  difguife 
his  retreat  from  Trenton,  had  ordered  a  line  of  fires  to  be 
lighted  up  in  front  of  his  camp.  Thefe  not  only  ferved 
to  give  an  appearance  of  going  to  reil,  and  continuing 

D  a  that 


M\ 


■4^ 


ilii 


[      20      ] 

that  deception,  but  they  efFet^ually  concealed  from  the 
Britifh  whatever  was  a£ling  behind  them,  for  flame  cati 
no  more  be  feen  through  than  a  vvall,  and  in  this  fitua- 
tion,  it  may  with  fome  propriety  be  faid,  they  became  a 
pillar  of  fire  to  the  one  army,  and  a  pillar  of  a  cloud  to 
the  other :  after  this,  by  a  circuitous  march  of  about 
eighteen  miles,  the  Americans  reached  Princeton  early 
in  the  morning. 

The  nurnber  of  prifoners  taken  were  between  two  and 
three  hundred,  with  which  General  Wafliington  imme- 
diately fet  ofF.  The  van  of  the  Britifli  army  from  Tren- 
ton entered  Princeton  about  an  hour  after  the  Americans 
had  left  it,  who  continuing  their  march  for  the  remainder 
oftheday,  arrived  in  the  evening  at  a  convenient  fituation, 
wide  of  the  main  road  to  Brunfwick,  and  about  fixteen 
miles  diftant  from  Princeton. — But  fo  wearied  and  ex- 
haufted  were  they,  with  the  continual  and  unabated  fer- 
vice  and  fatigue  of  two  days  and  a  night,  from  adion  to 
aftion,  without  flielter  and  almoft  without  refrefhment, 
that  the  bare  and  frozen  ground,  with  no  other  covering 
than  the  fky,  became  to  them  a  place  of  comfortable  reft. 
By  thcfe  two  events,  and  with  but  little  comparative  force 
to  accomplifh  them,  the  A  mericans  clofed  with  advantages 
a  campaign,  which,  but  a  few  days  before,  threatened  the 
country  with  deftru6lion.  The  Britifh  army,  apprehenfive 
for  the  fafety  of  their  magazines  at  Brunfwick,  eighteen 
rniles  diftant,  marched  immediately  for  that  place,  where 
they  arrived  late  in  the  evening,  and  from  which  they 
made  no  attempts  to  move,  for  nearly  five  months. 


Having  thus  ftated  the  principal  outlines  of  thefe  two 
moft  interefting  adlions,  I  (hall  now  quit  them,  to  put  the 

Abbe 


[      21       J 

Abbe  right  in  his  miftated  account  of  the  debt  and  paper 
money  of  Americaj  wherein,  fpeaking  of  thefe  matters, 
he  fays,  ^ 

**  These  ideal  riches  were  reje£led.  The  more  the 
**  multiplication  of  them  was  urged  by  want,  the  greater 
•*  did  their  depreciation  grow.  The  Congrefs  was  indig- 
*'  nant  at  the  affronts  given  to  its  money,  and  declared 
**  all  thofe  to  be  traitors  to  their  country  who  fhould  not 
^*  receive  it  as  they  would  have  received  gold  itfelf. 


■  ]*  L 

\,    ■  Mil 


■  'M 


•*  D  D  not  this  body  know,  that  prepofleffions  are  no 
more  to  be  controled  than  feeling's  are  ?  Did  it  not 
perceive,  that  in  the  prefent  crifis  every  rational  maa 
would  be  afraid  of  expofmg  his  fortune  ?  Did  it  not 
fee,  that  at  the  beginning  of  a  republic  it  permitted  to 
itfelf  the  exercife  of  fuch  afts  of  defpotifm  as  are  un- 
known even  in  the  countries  which  are  moulded  to, 
and  become  familiar  with,  fervitude  and  oppreflion  ? 
Could  it  pretend  that  it  did  not  punifti  z  want  of  con- 
fidence with  the  pains  which  would  have  been  fcarcely 
merited  by  revolt  and  treafon  ?  Of  all  this  was  the 
Congrefs  well  aware.  But  it  had  no  choice  of  means. 
Its  defpifed  and  defpicable  fcraps  of  paper  were  acSlu- 
ally  thirty  times  below  their  original  value,  when  more 
of  them  were  ordered  to  be  made.  On  the  1 3th  of 
September,  1779,  there  was  of  this  paper  money, 
amongft  the  public,  to  the  amount  of  ;^. 35,544, 155. 
The  ftate  owed  moreover  ^^•8,385, 356,  without  reck- 
oning the  particular  debts  of  fmgle  provinces.'* 


In  the  above  recited  paflages  the  Abbe  fpeaks  as  if  the 
United  States  had  contraded  a  debt  of  upwards  of  forty 

millionc 


[      12      ] 


millions  pounds  ftcrling,  befides  the  debts  of  individual 
States.  After  which,  fpeaking  of  foreign  trade  with 
America,  he  fays,  that"thofe  countries  in  Europe,  which 
**  are  truly  commercial  ones,  knowing  that  North-Ame- 
*'  rica  had  been  reduced  to  contra<3:  debts  at  the  epoch 
«'  of  even  her  greateft  profperity,  wifely  thought,  that, 
**  in  her  prefent  diftrefs,  fhe  would  be  able  to  pay  but 
*'  very  little,  for  what  might  be  carried  to  her," 


H  i' 


I  i^NOW  it  muft  be  extremely  difficult  to  make  foreign- 
ers underftand  the  nature  and  circumftances  of  our  paper 
money,  becaufe  there  are  natives,  who  do  not  underftand 
it  themfelves.  But  with  us  its  fate  is  now  determined. 
Common  confent  has  configned  it  to  reft  with  that  kind 
of  regard,  which  the  long  fervice  of  inanimate  things 
infenfibly  obtains  from  mankind.  Every  ilone  in  the 
bridge,  that  has  carried  us  over,  feems  to  have  a  claim 
upon  our  efteem.  But  this  was  a  corner  ftone,  and  its 
ufefulnefs  cannot  be  forgotten.  There  is  fomething  in 
a  grateful  mind,  which  extends  itfelf  even  to  things  that 
can  neither  be  benefited  by  regard,  nor  fufFer  by  nc- 
gledl ; — But  fo  it  is ;  and  almoft  every  man  is  fenfiblc 
of  the  cffed:. 


But  to  return.  The  paper  money,  though  iflued  from 
Congrefs  under  the  name  of  dollars,  did  not  come  from 
that  body  always  ac  that  value.  Thofe  which  were  if- 
fued  the  firft  year,  were  equal  to  gold  and  filver.  The 
fecond  year  lefs,  the  third  ftill  lefs,  and  fo  on,  for  nearly 
the  fpace  of  five  years ;  at  the  end  of  which,  I  imagine, 
that  the  whole  value,  at  which  Congrefs  might  pay  away 
the  feveral  emiffions,  taking  them  together,  was  about 
ten  or  twelve  millions  pounds  fterling,  , 

a  Now 


Now  as  it  would  have  taken  ten  or  twelve  millions 
fterlirtg  of  taxes,  to  carry  on  the  war  for  five  years,  and, 
as  while  this  money  was  iffuing  and  likewife  depreci* 
ating  down  to  nothing,  there  wefe  none,  or  few  valuable 
taxes  paid  ;  confequently  the  event  to  the  public  was  the 
fame,  whether  they  funk  ten  or  twelve  millions  of  ex- 
pended money,  by  depreciation,  or  paid  ten  or  twelve 
millions  by  taxation ;  for  as  they  did  not  do  both,  and 
chofe  to  do  one,  the  matter,  in  a  general  view,  was  in* 
different.  And  therefore,  what  the  Abbe  fuppofes  to  be 
a  debt,  has  now  no  exiftence;  it  having  been  paid,  by 
every  body  confenting,  to  reduce  at  his  own  expence, 
from  the  value  of  the  bills  continually  paffing  among 
themfelves,  a  fum,  equal  to  nearly  what  the  expence  of 
the  war  was  for  five  years. 


Again.  The  paper  money  having  now  ceafed,  and 
the  depreciation  with  it,  and  gold  and  filver  fupplied  its 
place,  the  war  will  now  be  carried  on  by  taxation,  which 
will  draw  from  the  public  a  confiderable  lefs  fum  than 
what  the  depreciation  drew;  but  as  while  they  pay  the 
former,  they  do  not  fufFer  the  latter,  and  as  when  they 
fufFered  the  latter,  they  did  not  pay  the  former,  the 
thing  will  be  nearly  equal,  with  this  moral  advantage, 
that  taxation  occafions  frugality  and  thought,  and  de- 
preciation produced  diflipation  and  careleiTnefs. 

And  again.  If  a  man's  portion  of  taxes  comes  to  lefs 
than  what  he  loft  by  the  depreciation,  it  proves  the  al- 
teration is  in  his  favor.  If  it  comes  to  more,  and  he  is 
juftly  afleffed,  it  (hows  that  he  did  not  fuftain  his  propsr 
(hare  of  depreciation,  becaufe  the  one  was  as  opcratively 
his  tax  as  the  other. 

It 


I  ! 


IS  i'^ 


i 


in  ■' 


I    H    ] 

It  is  true,  that  it  never  was  intended,  neither  was  it 
forefeen,  that  the  debt  contained  in  the  paper  currency 
(hould  fink  itfelf  in  this  manner  ^  but  as  by  the  voluntary 
condu£t  of  all  and  of  every  one  it  has  arrived  at  this  fate, 
the  debt  is  paid  by  thofe  who  owed  it.  Perhaps  nothing 
was  ever  fo  univerfally  the  a6t  of  a  country  as  this. 
Government  had  no  hand  in  it.  Every  man  depreciated 
his  own  money  by  his  own  confent,  for  fuch  was  the  ef* 
fe£t,  which  the  raifing  the  nominal  value  of  goods  pro- 
duced. But  as  by  fuch  redudion  he  fuftained  a  lofs  equal 
to  what  he  muft  have  paid  to  fmk  it  by  taxation,  therefore 
the  line  of  juftice  is  to  ronfider  his  lofs  by  the  deprecia- 
tion as  his  tax  for  that  time,  and  not  to  tax  him  when 
the  war  is  over,  to  make  that  money  good  in  any  other 
perfons  hands,  which  became  nothing  in  his  own. 

Again.  The  paper  currency  was  iflued  for  the  exprefs 
purpofe  of  carrying  on  the  war.  It  has  performed  that 
fervice,  without  any  other  material  charge  to  the  public, 
while  it  lafted.  But  to  fuppofe,  asfome  did,  that,  at  the 
end  of  the  war,  it  was  to  grow  into  gold  or  filver,  or 
become  equal  thereto,  was  to  fuppofe  that  we  were  to  get 
two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  by  going  to  war^  in- 
ftead  oi  paying  the  coft  of  carrying  it  on. 

But  if  any  thing  in  the  fituation  of  America,  as  to  her 
currency  or  her  circumftances,  yet  remains  not  underftood, 
then  let  it  be  remembered,  that  this  war  is  the  public's 
•war  J  the  people's  war  ;  the  country's  war.  It  is  their 
independence  that  is  to  be  fupported  j  their  property  that 
is  to  be  fecured  ;  their  country  that  is  to  be  faved.  Here, 
government,  the  army,  and  the  people,  are  mutually 
and  reciprocally  one.  In  other  wars,  kings  may  lofe  their 

thrones 


r  25  J 

thrones,  and  their  dominions  j  but  here,  the  lofs  muft 
fall  on  the  majejiy  of  the  multitude^  and  the  property  they 
are  contending  to  fave.  Every  man  being  fenfible  of 
this,  he  goes  to  the  field,  or  pays  his  portion  of  the 
charge,  as  the  fovercign  of  his  own  pofTeffions  j  and 
when  he  is  conquered  a  monarch  falls. 


i.  % 


I  -J 


The  remark,  which  the  Abbe  in  the  conclufion  of 
the  paflage  has  made,  refpcdling  America  contracting 
debts  in  the  time  of  her  profperity  (by  which  he  means, 
before  the  breaking  out  of  hoftilities)  ferves  to  fhow, 
though  he  has  not  made  the  application,  the  very  great 
commercial  difFcrence  between  a  dependent  and  an  inde- 
pendent country.  In  a  ftate  of  dependence,  and  with  a 
fettered  commerce,  though  with  all  the  advantages  of 
peace,  her  trade  could  not  balance  itfelf,  and  Ihe  an- 
nuallv  run  into  debt.  But  now,  in  a  ftate  of  independ- 
ence, though  involved  in  war,  ihe  requires  no  credit  > 
her  fbrcs  arc  full  of  merchandize,  and  gold  and  filver 
are  become  the  currency  of  the  country.  How  thefe 
thintrs  have  eftubliflied  themfelves  it  is  difficult  to  ac- 
count  for  :  But  they  are  fa<5ts,  and  fa^Sls  are  more  power- 
ful than  ari^uments. 


i 


As  it  is  probable  this  letter  will  undergo  a  republi- 
cation in  Europe,  the  remarks  here  thrown  together 
will  ferve  to  fhow  the  extreme  folly  of  Britain,  in  reft- 
ing  her  hopes  of  fuccefs  on  the  extinction  of  our  paper 
currency.  The  expectation  is  at  once  fo  childifli  and 
forlorn,  that  it  places  her  in  the  laughable  condition  of 
a  famiflied  lion  watching  for  prey  at  a  fpider's  web. 


m 


From  this  account  of  the  currency,  the  Abbe  pro- 
ceeds to  ftate  the  condition  of  America  in  the  winter 

E  I777» 


.it  I 


I 


ilk 


It 


I 


[    26    ] 

1777,  and  the  Tprlng  following  j  and  clofes  his  obfcr- 
vations  with  mentioning  the  treaty  of  alliance,  which 
was  figned  in  France,  and  the  propofitions  of  the  Bri- 
tifli  Miniflry,  which  were  rejefted  in  America.  But 
in  the  manner  in  which  the  Abbe  has  arranged  his  fails, 
there  is  a  very  material  error,  that  not  only  he,  but  other 
European  hiflorians  have  fallen  into;  none  of  them 
having  affigned  the  true  caufe  why  the  Briti/h  propofals 
were  rejeded,  and  all  of  them  have  affigned  a  wrong 
one. 

In  the  winter  1777,  and  fpring  following,  Congrefs 
were  aflembled  at  York-town  in  Pennfylvania,  the  Bri- 
ti(h  were  in  pofleffion  of  Philadelphia,  and  General 
Waihington  with  the  army  were  encamped  in  huts  at 
the  Valley-Forge,  twenty-five  miles  diflant  therefrom. 
To  all  who  can  remember,  it  was  a  feafon  of  hardfliip, 
but  not  of  defpair  ;  and  the  Abbe,  fpeaking  of  this  pe- 
riod and  its  inconveniences,  fays, 

*'  A  multitude  of  privations,  added  to  fo  many  other 
*'  misfortunes,  might  make  the  Americans  regret  their 
*'  former  tranquillity,  and  incline  them  to  an  accommo- 
*'  dation  with  England.  In  vain  had  the  people  been 
•'  bound  to  the  new  government  by  the  facrednefs  of 
*'  oaths  and  the  influence  of  religion.  In  vain  had  en- 
••  deavours  been  ufed  to  convince  them,  that  it  was  im- 
*'  poffible  to  treat  fafely  with  a  country  in  which  one 
•'  parliament  might  overturn  what  fhould  have  been 
*'  eftabliflied  by  another.  In  vain  had  they  been 
•*  threatened  with  the  eternal  refentment  of  an  exaf- 
*'  perated  and  vindidlive  enemy.  It  was  poffible  that 
"  thefe  diftant  troubles  might  not  be  balanced  by  the 
"  weight  of  prefent  evils. 

««  So 


[      27      ] 

**  So  thought  the  Britifli  miniftry  when  they  fent  to 
**  the  New  World  public  agents,  authorized  to  offer 
*'  every  thing  except  independence  to  thefe  very  Ame- 
'*  ricans,  from  whom  they  had  two  years  before  exa(5led 
"  an  unconditional  fubmiflion.  It  is  not  improbable, 
'*  but  that  by  this  plan  of  conciliation,  a  few  months 
*'  fooner,  fome  effed  might  have  been  produced.  But 
**  at  the  period  at  which  it  was  propofed  by  the  Court 
"  of  London,  it  was  rejedled  with  difdain,  becaufe  this 
*'  meafure  appeared  but  as  an  argument  of  fear  and 
*'  weaknefs.  The  people  were  already  re-affured.  The 
Congrefs,  the  Generals,  the  troops,  the  bold  and 
flcilful  men,  in  each  colony  had  pofleffed  themfelves 
of  the  authority  J  everything  had  recovered  its  firft 
fpirit.  This  was  the  effeSf  of  a  treaty  of  friendjhip  and 
commerce  between  the  United  States  and  the  Court  ofVer- 
*'  failles^  figned  the  6th  of  February  1778.'* 


(C 


«c 


C( 


cc 


C( 


■  V. 


On  this  paffage  of  the  Abbe's  I  cannot  help  remark- 
ing, that,  to  unite  time  with  circumflance,  is  a  material 
nicety  in  hiftory  ;  the  want  of  which  frequently  throws 
it  into  endlefs  confufion  and  miflake,  occafions  a  total 
feparation  between  caufes  and  confequences,  and  con- 
neds  them  with  others  they  are  not  immediately,  and 
fometimes  not  at  all,  related  to. 

The  Abbe,  in  faying  that  the  offers  of  the  Britifh 
Miniftry  *'  were  rejected  with  difdain,"  is  right,  as  to 
thefa^,  but  wrong  as  to  the  time ;  and  this  error  in  the 
time,  has  occafioned  him  to  be  miflaken  in  the  caufe. 


The  figning  the  treaty  of  Paris  the  6th  of  February, 
1778,  could  have  noeiFe^  on  the  mind  or  politics  of 

£  2  America 


•'i    I 


C     28     J 

Amrrica  until  it  was  hicivn  In  /Imcricei ;  and  thereforp, 
when  the  Abbe  lays,  that  the  rcjcdion  of  the  Britifli  of- 
ftrs  was  in  ccnfcqucncc  of  the  allinncc,  he  muft  mean, 
that  it  was  in  conrccjuencc  cif  the  alliance  being  hioxi-n  in 
America  ;  which  was  not  the  cafe  :  And  by  t!iis  miftake 
he  not  only  takes  from  her  tlie  reputation,  which  her 
unihakcn  fortitude  in  that  trvine  iituation  defcrvcs,  but 
is  iikcvvifc  led  very  injuriouily  to  fuppofe,  that  had  (he 
vet  kr.ozcn  of  the  treaty,  the  ori'ers  would  probably  have 
been  accepted  ;  whereas  flie  knew  nothing  of  the  treaty 
at  the  time  of  the  rejection,  and  confequently  did  not 
rejcd  them  on  that  ground. 

The  propofitions  or  offers  above  mentioned  were 
•contained  in  two  bills  brought  into  the  Britiih  Parlia- 
ment by  Lord  North  on  the  17th  of  February  1778, 
Thofe  bills  were  hurried  through  both  Houfes  with  un- 
ufual  hafte,  and  before  they  had  gone  through  all  the 
curtomary  forms  of  Parliament,  copies  of  them  were  fent 
over  to  Lord  Howe  and  General  Howe,  then  in  Phila- 
delphia, who  were  likewife  CommifHoners.  Genci  ,1 
Howe  ordered  them  to  be  printed  in  Philadelphia,  and 
fent  copies  of  them  by  a  flap;  to  General  Wafhington, 
to  be  forwarded  to  Congrefs  at  York-Town,  where  they 
arrived  the  21ft  of  April  1778.  Thus  much  :'or  the  ar- 
rival of  the  bills  in  America. 

CoxGRESs,  as  is  their  ufual  mode,  appointed  a  com- 
mittee from  their  own  body,  to  examine  them  and  re- 
port thereon.  The  report  was  brought  in  the  next  day 
(the  twenty-fecond)  was  read,  and  unanimoullv  agreed 
to,  entered  on  their  journals,  and  publifhed  for  the  infor- 
nution  of  the  country.  Now  this  report  rauft  be  the  re- 
jection 


tm 


t  29  ] 

jeclion  to  which  the  Abbe  alludes,  bccaufe  Congrcfs  gave; 
no  other  formal  opinion  on  thofe  bills  and  propofitions : 
And  on  a  fubfequent  application  from  the  Britifli  Com- 
miflioners,  dated  the  27th  of  May,  and  received  at 
York-Tow^n  the  6th  of  June,  Conjrefs  immediately  re- 
ferred them  for  an  anfv/cr  to  their  printed  rcfolves  of  the 
22d  of  April.  Thus  much  for  the  rejeilion  of  the  offers. 

On  the  2d  of  May,  that  is,  eleven  days  after  the 
above  rejc£lion  was  made,  the  treaty  between  the  United 
States  and  France  arrived  at  York  Town ;  and  until  this 
moment  Congrefs  had  not  the  leaft  notice  or  idea,  that 
fuch  a  meafure  was  in  any  train  of  execution.  But  left 
this  declaration  of  mine  fliould  pafs  only  for  alTertion,  I 
Ihnli  fupport  it  by  proof,  for  it  is  material  to  the  charac- 
ter and  principle  of  the  revolution  to  fhow,  that  no  con- 
dition of  America,  llnce  the  declaration  of  independence, 
however  trying  and  fevere,  ever  operated  to  produce  the 
moftdiflant  idea  of  yielding  it  up  either  by  force,  dif- 
trefs,  artifice  or  pcrfuafion.  And  this  proof  is  the  more 
necefiary,  becaufe  it  was  the  fyftem  of  the  Britifii  mi- 
niftry  at  this  time,  as  well  as  before  and  fince,  to  hold 
out  to  the  European  powers  that  America  was  unfixt  in 
her  refolutions  and  policy;  hoping  by  this  artifice  to 
leflen  her  reputation  in  Europe,  and  weaken  the  confi- 
dence which  thofe  powers,  or  any  of  them,  might  be 
inclined  to  place  in  her. 

At  the  time  thcfe  matters  were  tranfa<Sling,  I  was 
fecretary  in  the  foreign  department  of  Congrefs.  All  the 
political  letters  from  the  American  CommiiTioners  refled 
in  my  hands,  and  all  that  were  officially  written  went 
from  my  office  j  and  fo  far  from  Congrefs  knowing  any 

thing 


(i 

1 


r  30  ] 

thing  of  tlic  fignlng  the  treaty,  at  the  time  they  rejcdci 
ti\c  Britifh  ofters,  they  haJ  not  received  a  line  of  infor- 
mation from  their  Commiflioners  at  Paris  on  any  fub- 
jccl  wh;*tevcr  for  upwards  of  a  twelvemonth.  Probably 
the  lofs  of  the  port  of  Philadelphia  and  the  navigation 
of  the  Delaware,  together  with  the  danger  of  the  feas, 
covered  at  this  time  with  Britifh  cruizers,  contributed 
to  the  difappointment. 

One  packet,  it  is  true,  arrived  at  York- Town  in  Ja- 
nuary preceding,  which  was  about  three  months  before 
the  arrival  of  the  treaty  ;  but,  ftrange  as  it  may  appear, 
every  letter  had  been  taken  out,  before  it  was  put  on 
board  the  veflei  Avhich  brought  it  from  France,  and 
blank  white  paper  put  in  their  Head. 

Having  thus  ftated  the  time  when  the  propofals  from 
the  Britifli  Commiflioners  werefirft  received, and  likewife 
the  time  when  the  treaty  of  alliance  arrived,  and  (hewn 
that  the  rcjecStion  of  the  former  was  eleven  days  prior  to 
the  arrival  of  the  latter,  and  without  the  leaft  knowledge 
of  fuch  circumftance  having  taken  place  or  being  about 
to  take  place ;  the  rcjedlion,  therefore,  mufl,  and  ought 
to  be  attributed  to  the  fixt  unvaried  fentiments  of  Ame- 
rica refpedling  the  enemy  flie  is  at  war  with,  and  her  de- 
termination to  fupporther  independence  to  the  laftpoflibie 
effort,  and  not  to  any  new  circumftance  in  her  favour, 
which  at  that  time  fhe  did  not  and  could  not  know  of. 

Besides,  there  is  a  vigour  of  determination  and  fpirit 
of  defiance  ''n  the  language  of  the  rejedion,  (which  I  here 
fubjoin)  which  derive  their  greatefl  glory  by  appearing 
before  the  treaty  was  known ;  for  that,  which  is  bravery 
in  diftrefs  becomes  infult  in  profperity :  And  the  treaty 
5  placed 


I  31  ] 

placed  America  on  fuch  a  ftrong  foundiulon,  that  hml 
(he  then  known  it,  the  anfwer  which  flie  gave,  would 
have  appeared  rather  as  an  air  of  tiiuniph,  than  as  the 
glowing  fercnity  of  fortitude. 


Upon  the  whc  c,  the  Abbe  appears  to  have  entirely 
miftaken  the  matter ;  for  inftead  of  attributing  the  re- 
je<Slion  of  the  propofitions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  treaty 
of  alliance  ;  he  (hould  have  attributed  the  origin  of  them 
in  the  Britifh  cabinet,  to  their  knowledge  of  that  event. 
And  then  the  reafon  why  they  were  hurried  over  to  Ame- 
rica in  the  ftate  of  bills,  that  is,  before  tiicy  were  pafled 
into  a<Sls,  is  eafily  accounted  for,  which  is,  that  they 
might  have  the  chance  of  reaching  America  before  any 
knowledge  of  the  treaty  (hould  arrive,  which  they  were 
lucky  enough  to  do,  and  there  met  the  fate  they  fo 
richly  merited.  That  thefe  bills  were  brought  into  the 
Briti(h  Parliament  after  the  treaty  with  France  was 
figned,  is  proved  from  the  dates :  The  treaty  being  on 
the  6th,  and  the  bills  the  17th  of  February.  And  that 
the  figning  the  treaty  was  known  in  Parliament,  when 
the  bills  were  brought  in,  is  likewife  proved  by  a  ipeech 
of  Mr.  Charles  Fox,  on  the  faid  17th  of  P'ebruary,  who, 
in  reply  to  Lord  North,  informed  the  Houfe  of  the 
treaty  being  figned,  and  challenged  the  Minifter's  know- 
ledge of  the  fame  fad.  *} 

TuorcH 

*)In    congress,    April    22d,    1778. 

•  ^  I  ^HE  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  General's 
X.  letter  of  the  1 8th,  containing  a  certain  printed  paoer 
fent  from  Philadelphia,  purporting  to  be  the  draught  of  a  Bill 
for  declaring  the  intentions  of  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain, 
as  to  the  exerci/e  of  what  they  are  pleafed  to  term  theirr/|rA/  of 
impofing  taxes  within  thefe  United  States  ;  and  alio  the 
draught  of  a  Bill  to  enable  the  King  of  Great  Britain  to  ap- 
point CommiiTioners,  with  powers  to  treat)  confult,  and  agree 

upon 


.  '11 


f    3*    3 


I', 


Though  I  am  not  furprifed  to  fee  the  Abb^niiftakea 
In  matters  of  hiftory,  adled  at  fo  great  a  dilhuicc  from  his 

fphcre 


if 

it 


upon  the  mcano  cf  quieting  certain  diforders  within  the  faid 
States,  beg  leave  to  obferv., 

**  That  the  faid  paper  being  induflrioufly  circulated  by 
emiflaries  of  the  enemy,  in  a  partial  and  fecret  manner,  the 
fame  ought  to  be  forthwith  printed  for  the  public  information. 

••  The  Committee  cannot  afcertain  whether  the  contents  of 
the  faid  paper  have  been  framed  in  Philadelphia  or  in  Great 
Britain,  much  lefs  whether  the  fame  are  rcaily  ar.d  truly  in- 
tended to  be  brought  into  the  Parliament  of  that  kingdom,  or 
whether  the  faid  Parliament  will  confer  thereon  the  ufuj.1  fo- 
lemnities  of  their  lav/s.  But  are  inclined  to  believe  this  v/ill 
happen,  for  the  following  reafons  : 

"  lit.  Because  their  General  hath  made  divers  feeble  ef- 
forts to  fet  on  foot  feme  kind  of  treaty  during  the  laft  winter, 
though,  either  from  a  miftaken  idea  of  his  own  dignity  and 
importance,  the  want  of  information,  or  fome  other  caufe,  he- 
hath  not  made  application  to  thofe  who  are  invelled  with  a 
proper  authority. 

*'  2dly.  Ef CAUSE  they  fuppofe  that  the  fallacious  idea  of 
a  ceflation  of  hoftllities  will  render  thefe  States  remifs  in  their 
preparations  for  war. 

*'  3dly.  BtCAUSE  believing  the  Americans  wearied  with 
war,  they  fuppofe  we  will  accede  to  their  terms  for  the  fake 
of  peace. 

*•  4ihly.  Because  they  fuppofe  that  our  negociations  may 
be  fubjeft  to  a  like  corrupt  iofiuence  with  their  debates. 

'•  jthly.  Because  they  exped  from  this  ftep  the  fame  ef- 
fedi  they  did  from  what  one  of  their  minifters  thought  proper 
to  call  his  conciliatoty  motion^  viz.  that  it  will  prevent  foreign 
powers  from  giving  aid  to  thefe  States ;  that  it  will  lead  their 
own  fubjefts  to  continue  a  little  longer  the  prefent  war  ;  and 
jhat  it  will  detach  fome  weak  men  in  America  from  the  caufe 
of  freedom  and  virtue. 

**  6thly.  Because  their  King,  from  his  own  flievuing,  hath 
reafon  to  apprehend  that  his  fleets  and  armie?,  inllead  of  be- 
ing employed  againlt  the  territories  of  thefe  States,  will  be 
necvfiiiry  for  the  defence  of  his  own  don'.inions.     And 

*'  7thly.  Because  the  impradicability  of  fubjugating  this 
country  being  every  day  nic  re  and  more  manifell,  it  Is  their 
interellto  extricate  thf  ."<ifelvei  from  the  war  upon  any  terms. 

'•  Thk  Committee  beg  leave  further  to  obferve.  That,  upon 
a  fuppcliiicn  the  maiters  contained  in  the  faid  paper  will  really 


be 


f    33    3 

fphereoflmmedlateobfervatic'B,  yetl  am  hiore  than  fur-* 
prifed  to  find  him  wrong,  (or  at  leaft  what  appears  fo  to 

me) 

■  ■' 

^into  the  Britifh  Statute  Book,  they  fcrve  to  Ihevv,  in  a  clear 
point  of  view,  the  weaknefs  and  wickednefs  of  the  enemy. 

*'  Their  Weakness, 

•*  ift.  Because  they  formerly  declared,  not  only  that  they 
had  a  right  to  bind  the  inhabitants  of  thefe  States  in  all  cafes 
whatfoever,  but  alfo  that  the  faid  inhabitants  fhould  abfolutely 
and  unconditionally  fubmit  to  the  exercife  of  that  right.  And 
this  fubmifiion  they  have  endeavoured  to  exadt  by  the  fword. 
Receding  from  this  claim,  therefore,  under  thcprefent  circum- 
flances,  (hews  their  inability  to  enforce  it* 

/*  zdly.  Because  their  Prince  hath  heretofore  rejefted  the 
humbleil  petitions  of  the  Reprefentatives  of  America,  praying 
lobe  confidered  as  fubjefts,  and  protcfted  in  the  enjoyment  of 
peace,  liberty  and  fafety ;  and  hath  waged  a  mod  cruel  war 
againft  them,  and  employed  the  favages  to  butcher  innocent 
women  and  children.  But  nOw  the  fame  Prince  pretends  to 
treat  with  thofe  very  Reprefentatives,  and  grant  to  the  arms  of 
America  what  he  refufed  to  \itx  prayers. 

"  sdly*  Because  they  have  uniformly  laboured  to  conquer 
this  continent,  rejecting  every  idea  of  accommodation  propofed 
to  them,  from  a  confidence  in  their  own  ilrength.  Wherefore 
it  is  evident,  from  the  change  in  their  mode  of  attack,  that 
they  have  loft  this  confidence.     And 

*'  4thly.  Because  thecondant  language,  fpoken  not  only 
by  their  Minifters,  but  by  the  moll  public  and  authentic  a6h  of 
the  nation,  hath  been,  that  it  is  incompatible  with  their  dig- 
nity to  treat  with  the  Americans  while  they  have  arms  in  their 
hands.  Notwithllanding  which,  an  ofier  is  now  about  to  be 
made  for  treaty. 

•*  The  Wickedkess  and  Insincerity  of  the  enemy  ap- 
pear from  the  following  confiderations: 

**  ift.  Either  the  Bills  now  to  be  paffed  contain  a  direft 
or  indireft  cefiion  of  a  part  of  their  former  claims,  or  they  do 
not.  If  they  do,  then  it  is  acknowledged  that  they  have  fa- 
crificed  many  brave  men  in  an  unjuft  quarrel.  If  they  do  not, 
then  they  are  calculated  to  deceive  America  into  terms,  to 
which  neither  argument  before  the  war,  nor  force  fince,  could 
procure  her  afient. 

••  adly.  The  firft  of  thcfe  Bills  appears,  from  the  title,  ta. 
be  a  declaration  of  the  intentions  of  the  Sritifh  Parliament  con- 
cerning the  exercife  of  the  right  of  impofing  taxes  within  thefe 
States.     Wherefore,  IhoulU  thefe  States  treat  under  the  faid 

F  Bill, 


i« 


M 


■■  i 


I 


t;t  lii!  ! 


[     34    ] 

me)  in  the  well  enlightened  field  of  philofophical  re- 
fle(5tion.  Here  the  materials  are  his  own  ;  created  by  him- 
felfj  and  the  error,  therefore,  is  an  a6t  of  the  mind. 

Hitherto 

Bill,  they  would  indireQly  acknowledge  that  right,  to  obtain 
which  acknowledgment  the  prefent  war  hath  been  avowedly 
undertaken  and  profecuted  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain. 

•*  3diy.  Should  fuch  pretended  right  be  fo  acquiefced  in, 
then,  of  confequence,  the  fame  might  be  exercifed  whenever 
the  Dritifli  Parliament  Ihould  find  themfelves  in  a  different  tern- 
per  and  di/pofttion  \  fince  it  muft  depend  upon  thcfe,  and  fuch 
like  contingencies,  how  i<sx  men  will  a£l  according  .0  their 
termer  intentions. 

*•  4thly.  The  faid  firftBill,  in  the  body  thereof,  containeth 
no  new  matter,  but  is  precifely  the  fame  with  the  motion  be- 
fore-mentioned, and  liable  to  all  the  objedlions  which  layagainfl 
the  faid  motion,  excepting  the  following  particular, viz.  that^ 
the  motion  a£lual  taxation  was  to  be  fufpendcd,  fo  long  as  Ame- 
rica ihould  give  as  much  as  the  faid  Parliament  might  think 
proper  :  Whereas  by  the  propofed  Bill,  it  is  to  be  fufpended, 
as  long  as  future  Parliaments  continue  of  the  fame  mind  with 
the  prefent. 

**  5thly.  From  the  fecond  Bill  it  appears,  that  the  Britlfh 
King  may,  if  he  pleafes,  appoint  CommilTioners  to  treat  and 
agree  with  thofe,  whom  they  pleafe,  about  a  variety  of  things 
therein  mentioned.  But  fuch  treaties  and  agreements  are  to  be 
of  no  validity  without  the  concurrence  of  the  faid  Parliament, 
except  fo  far  as  they  relate  to  iht/ufpenjion  of  hoftilitips  and  of 
certain  of  their  ads,  the  granting  of  pardons,  and  the  appoint- 
ing of  Governors  to  thefe  fovereign,  free  and  independent 
States.  Wherefore,  the  faid  Parliament  have  referred  to  thcrn- 
felves,  in  exprefs  ijuards,  the  power  of  fetting  afide  any  fuch 
treaty,  and  taking  the  advantage  of  any  circumftances  which 
may  arife  to  fubjeit  this  continent  to  their  ufurpations. 

*'  6thly.  The  faid  Bill,  by  holding  forth  a  tender  of  par- 
don, implies  a  criminality  in  ourjuUifiable  refiilance,  and  con- 
fequently,  to  treat  under  it  would  be  an  implied  acknowledg- 
ment, that  the  inhabitants  cf  thefe  States  were,  what  Britain 
has  declared  them  to  be.  Relets, 

*'  ythly.  The  inhabitants  of  thefe  States  being  claimed  by 
them  as  fubjeds,  they  may  infer,  from  the  nature  of  the  nego- 
ciation  now  pretended  to  be  fet  on  foot,  that  the  faid  inhabitants 
wcidd  of  rig.it  be  afterwards  bound  by  fuch  l.'iws  as  they  fliould 
make  Wherefore  any  agreement  entered  into  on  fuch  nego- 
ciation  might  at  any  future  time  be  repealed.     And 

Sthly.  Because  the  faiu  Bill  purports,  that  the  Commif- 

fionets, 


<< 


[    35    ] 


Hitherto  my  remarks  have  been  confined  to  circum- 
fl^nres  i  the  order  in  which  they  arofe,  and  the  events 


fioners  therein  mentioned  may  treat  with  private  individuals ; 
a  meafure  highly  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  national  cha- 
rader. 

*'  From  all  which  it  appears  evident  to  your  Committee, 
that  the  faid  Bills  are  intended  to  operate  upon  the  hopes  and 
fears  of  the  goou  people  of  thefe  States,  fo  as  to  create  divifions 
amonj;  them,  and  a  dcfedlion  from  the  common  caufe,  now  by 
the  blefnng  of  Divine  Providence  drawing  near  to  a  favourable 
iffue.  That  they  are  the  fequel  of  that  infidious  plan,  which, 
from  the  days  of  the  Stamp-a£l  down  to  the  prefent  time,  hath 
involved  this  country  in  contention  and  bloodflied.  And  that, 
as  in  other  cafes  fo  in  this,  although  circumftances  may  force 
them  at  times  to  recede  from  their  unjuftifiable  claims,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  but  they  will  as  heretofore,  upon  the  firft  fa- 
vourable occafion,  again  difplay  that  lull  of  domination,  which 
hath  rent  in  twain  the  mighty  empire  of  Britain. 

*'  Upon  the  whole  matter,  the  Committee  beg  leave  to  re- 
port it  as  their  opinion.  That  as  the  Americans  united  in  this 
arduous  contell  upon  principles  of  common  interell,  for  the  de- 
fence of  common  rights  and  privileges,  which  union  hath  been 
cemented  by  common  calamities  and  by  mutual  good  oflices  and 
afFeftion,  fo  the  great  caufe  for  which  they  contend,  and  in 
which  all  mankind  are  interefted,  mull  derive  its  fuccefs  from 
the  continuance  of  that  union.  Wherefore  any  man  or  body 
of  men,  who  fhould  prefume  to  make  any  feparate  or  partial 
convention  or  agreement  with  Commiffioners  under  the  crown 
of  Great  Britain,  or  any  of  them,  ought  to  be  confidered  and 
treated  as  open  and  avowed  enemies  of  thefe  United  States. 

**  And  further  your  Committee  bcgleave  to  report  it  as  their 
opinion,  That  thefe  United  States  cannot,  with  propriety,  hold 
any  conference  or  treaty  with  any  Commiflioners  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain,  unlefs  they  (hall,  as  a  preliminary  thereto,  either 
withdraw  their  fleets  and  armies,  or  elfe,  in  pofitive  and  ex- 
prcfs  terms,  acknowledge  the  Independence  of  the  faid  States. 

**  And  inafmuch  as  it  appears  to  be  the  defign  of  the  ene- 
mies of  thefe  Stales  to  lull  them  into  a  fatal  fecurity — to  the 
end  that  they  may  a£l  with  a  becoming  weight  and  importance, 
it  is  the  opinion  of  your  Committee,  That  the  feveral  State?  be 
called  upon  to  ufe  the  moll  ftrenuous  exertions  to  have  their 
rcfpedivc  quotas  of  continental  troops  in  the  field  as  foon  as 
poflible,  and  that  all  the  militia  of  the  faid  States  be  held  in 
readinefs,  to  ad  as  occafion  may  require." 

F  2  they 


[    36    ] 


)i     ' 


they  produced.  In  thefe,  my  information  being  better 
than  the  Abbe's,,  my  tafk  was  eafy.  How  I  may  fucceed 
in  controverting  matters  of  fentiment  and  opinion,  with 
one  whom  years,  experience,  and  long  eftabliflied  repu- 
tation have  placed  in  a  fuperior  line,  I  am  lefs  confident 
in ;  but  as  they  fall  within  the  fcope  of  my  obferyations 
it  would  be  improper  to  pafs  them  over. 


kh  i 


From  this  part  of  the  Abbe's  work  to  the  latter  end, 
I  find  feveral  expreffions,  which  appear  to  me  to  ftart, 
with  a  cynical  complexion,  from  the  path  of  liberal 
thinking,  or  at  leaft  they  are  fo  involved  as  to  lofe  many 
of  the  beauties  which  diftinguifli  other  parts  of  the  per-, 
formance. 


I 


The  foUoiving  is  the  anfwer  of  Congrefs  to  the  fecond  appli" 
cation  of  the  CoftimiJJioners  : 

York-Tonvn,  yune  df  1778. 
SIR, 

I  HAVE  had  the  honor  of  laying  your  letter  of  the  3d  in- 
ftantt  with  the  a£ls  of  the  Britiih  Parliament  which  came 
inclofed,  before  Congrefs ;  and  I  am  inilru£led  to  acquaint 
you,  Sir,  that  they  have  already  exprefTed  their  fentiments 
upon  bills,  not  eiTcntially  different  from  thofe  a£ts,  in  a  pub- 
lication of  the  zzd  of  April  laft. 

*'  Be  aiTured,  Sir,  when  the  King  of  Great  Britain  ihall  be 
feriouily  difpof^d  to  put  an  end  to  the  unprovoked  and  cruel 
war  waged  againil  thefe  United  States,  Congrefs  will  readily 
attend  to  fuch  terms  of  peace,  as  may  confiit  with  the  honor 
of  independent  nations,  theintereil  of  their  conftituents,  an4 
the  fccred  regard  they  mean  to  pay  to  treaties.  I  have  th^ 
hopor  10  \ie,  Sir, 

7'our  tnoji  ohedientt  and 

mojl  humble  fervent, 

HenryLaureks, 
FrefidtntofCongref:' 
His  Excellency, 
$ir  Henry  Clinton,  K.  B,  Philad, 

Ths 


[    37     1 

The  Abbe  having  brought  his  work  to  the  period 
when  the  treaty  of  alliance  between  France  and  the 
United  States  commenced,  proceeds  to  make  fome  re- 
marks thereon. 

*'  In  Ihort,"  fays  he,  **  philofophy,  whofe  firft  fenti- 

5'  mentis  the  defire  to  fee  all  governments  juft  and  all 

*'  people  happy,  in  cafting  her  eyes  upon  this  alliance  of 

**  a  monarchy,  with  a  people,  who  are  defending  their 

*'  liberty,  is  curious  to  know  its  motive.    She  fees,  at  onc£f 

*'  too  clearly-,  that  the  happinefs  of  mankind  has  no  part 

««  in  it," 


Whatever  train  of  thinking  or  of  temper  the  Abbe 
plight  be  in,  when  he  penned  this  expreffion,  matters 
not.  They  will  neither  qualify  the  fentiment,  nor  add 
to  its  dcfe£l.  If  right,  it  needs  no  apology;  if  wrong, 
\t  merits  no  excufe.  It  is  fent  into  the  world  as  an  opi- 
nion of  philofophy,  and  may  be  examined  without  regard 
to  the  author. 


k 


It  feems  to  be  a  defedl,  conneded  with  ingenuity,  that 
it  often  employs  itfelf  more  in  matters  of  curiofity,  than 
yfefulnefs.  Man  muft  be  the  priyy  counfellor  of  fate,  or 
fomething  is  not  right.  He  muft  know  the  fprings,  the 
whys  and  wherefores  of  every  thing,  or  he  fits  downun- 
fatisfied.  Whether  this  be  a  crime,  or  only  a  caprice  of 
humanity,  I  am  not  enquiring  into.  I  fhall  take  thot 
paifage  as  I  find  it,  and  place  my  objedlions  againft  it. 

It  is  not  fo  properly  the  motives  which  produced  the  al- 
liance, as  the  confequences  which  are  to  he  produced  from  itf 
that  mark  out  the  Held  of  philofophical  refle(E):ion.  In  the 
one  we  only  penetrate  into  the  barren  cave  of  fecrecy, 

where 


1 

:} 

t 


II 


1^'  r 


t  38  ] 

where  little  can  be  known,  and  every  thing  maybe  mif- 
conceived  j  in  the  other,  the  mind  is  prefented  with  a 
wide  extended  profpe6l  of  vegetative  good,  and  fees  a 
thoufaml  bleflin^s  budding  into  exiftence. 


But  the  exprefllon,  even  within  the  compafs  of  the 
Abbe's  meaning,  fets  out  with  an  error,  becaufe  it  is 
made  to  declare  that,  which  no  man  has  authority  to 
declare.  Who  can  fay  that  the  happinefs  of  mankind 
made  no  part  of  the  motives  which  produced  the  alliance? 
To  be  able  to  declare  this,  a  man  muft  be  pofreHed  of  the 
mind  of  all  the  parties  concerned,  and  know  that  their 
motives  were  fomething  elfe. 

In  proportion  as  the  independence  of  America  became 
contemplated  and  underft  /od,  the  local  advantages  of  It 
to  the  immediate  a6lors,  and  the  numerous  benefits  it  pro- 
mifcd  to  mankind,  appeared  to  be  every  day  encreafing  ; 
and  we  faw  not  a  temporary  good  for  the  prefent  race  on- 
ly, but  a  continueJ  ,ood  to  all  pofterity;  thefe  motives, 
therefore,  added  to  thofe  which  preceded  them,  became 
the  motives  on  the  part  of  America,  which  led  her  to  pro- 
pofc  ajid  agree  to  the  treaty  of  alliance,  as  the  beft  ef- 
tcdual  method  of  extending;  and  fecuring  happinefs  j  and 
therefore,  with  refpcflto  us,  the  Abbe  is  wrong. 

France,  on  the  other  hand,  was  fituated  very  diffe- 
rently to  America.  She  was  not  acted  upon  by  necelTity 
to  feck  a  friend,  and  therefore  her  motive  in  becoming 
one,  has  the  ftrongeft  evidence  of  being  good,  and  that 
which  is  fo,  muft  have  fome  happinefs  for  its  object. 
With  regard  to  herfelf,  fhe  fav/  a  train  of  conveniences 
worthy  her  attention.  By  leflening  the  power  of  an 
enemy,  whom,  at  the  Kimc  time,  (he  fought  neither  to 

dcftroy 


t    39    ] 

deftroy  nor  diftrefs,  flic  gained  an  advantage  without 
doing  an  evil,  and  created  to  herfelf  a  new  friend  by  af- 
{bciating  with  a  country  in  misfortune.  The  fprings 
of  thought  that  lead  to  adions  of  this  kind,  however 
political  they  may  be,  are  neverthelefs  naturally  bene- 
ficent ;  for  in  all  caufes,  good  or  bad,  it  is  neceflary  there 
fhould  be  a  fitnefs  in  the  mind,  to  enable  it  to  a£l;  in 
character  with  the  obje£l :  Therefore  as  a  bad  caufe 
cannot  be  profecuted  with  a  good  motive,  fo  neither  can 
a  good  caufe  be  long  fupported  by  a  bad  one,  and  as  no 
man  a£ts  without  a  motive,  therefore  in  the  prefent  in-, 
(lance,  as  they  cannot  be  bad,  they  muft  be  admitted  to 
be  good.  But  the  Abbe  fcts  out  upon  fuch  an  extended 
fcale,  that  he  overlooks  the  degrees  by  which  it  is  mea- 
fured,  and  rejects  the  beginning  of  good,  becaufe  the  end 
comes  not  at  once.  ,  , 


It  is  true  that  bad  motives  may  in  fome  degree  be 
brought  to  fupport  a  good  caufe  or  profecute  a  good  ob- 
ject J  but  it  never  continues  long,  which  is  not  tlie  cafe 
with  France  j  for  either  the  objed  will  reform  the  mind, 
or  the  mind  corrupt  the  objc£t,  or  elfe  not  being  able, 
cither  way,  to  get  into  unifon,  they  v/ill  feparatc  in  dif- 
guft  :  And  this  natural,  though  unpeiccived  progrefs  of 
aflbciation  or  contention  between  the  mind  and  the  ob- 
ject, is  the  fecret  caufe  of  fidelity  or  defedt^ion.  Every 
object  a  man  purfues,  is,  for  the  time,  a  kind  of  miftrcfs 
to  his  mind:  if  both  are  good  or  bad,  the  union  is  na- 
tural i  but  if  they  are  in  reverfe,  and  neither  can  feduce 
nor  yet  reform  the  other,  the  oppofition  grows  into  dif- 
like  and  a  feparaiion  follows. 


When  the  caufe  of  America  firft:  made  her  appearance 

on  the  ftage  of  the  univerfe,  there  were  many,  who,  in 

7  the 


[    40    ] 


ii    I  ! 


II 


the  ftile  of  adventurers  and  fortune-hunters,  weredang<^ 
ling  in  her  train,  and  making  their  court  to  her  with 
every  profeflion  of  honour  and  attachment.  They 
vrere  loud  in  her  praife  and  oilentatious  in  her  fervice. 
Every  place  echoed  with  their  ardour  or  their  anger,  and 
they  feemed  like  men  in  love.  But,  alas,  they  were  for- 
tune-hunters. Their  expe6lations  were  excited,  but 
their  minds  were  unimprefTed ;  and  finding  her  not  to 
their  purpofe,  nor  themfelves  reformed  by  her  influence, 
they  ceafed  their  fuit,  and  in  fome  inftances  deferted  and 
betrayed  her. 

There  were  others,  who  at  firft  beheld  her  with  in- 
difference, and  unacquainted  with  her  chara«Ster  were 
cautious  of  her  company.  They  treated  her  as  one, 
who,  under  the  fair  name  of  liberty,  might  conceal  the 
hideous  figure  of  anarchy,  or  the  gloomy  monfter  of  ty- 
ranny. They  knew  not  what  ihe  was.  If  fair,  (he  was . 
fair  indeed.  But  ftill  (he  was  fufpe6led,  and  though 
born  among  us  appeared  to  be  a  flranger. 


AcciDEKT  with  fome,  and  curiofity  with  others, 
brought  on  a  diftant  acquaintance.  They  ventured  to 
look  at  her.  They  felt  an  inclination  to  (peak  to  her. 
One  intimacy  led  to  another,  till  the  fufpicion  wore 
away  and  a  change  of  fentiment  fiole  gradually  upon  the 
mind  ;  and  having  no  felf-interefl  to  ferve,  no  paflion  of 
difhonour  to  gratify,  they  became  enamoured  of  her  in-' 
nocence,  and  unaltered  by  misfortune  or  uninHamed  by 
fuccefs,  fliared  with  fidelity  in  the  varieties  of  ^er  fate. 

This  declaration  of  the  Abbe's,  refpe£iing  motives, 
has  led  me  unintendedly  into  a  train  of  metaphyfical  rea- 
foningj  but  there  was  no  other  avenue  by  which  it  could 

io 


«.■ 


h 
Y 


t 


[     41     ] 

(o  properly  be  appronched,  To  place  prefumption 
againfl:  prefumption,  afTortion  againft  aflertion,  is  a 
mode  of  oppofition  that  has  no  efFeft  ;  and  therefore  the 
more  eligible  method  was,  to  fhew  that  the  declarat  on 
does  not  correfpcnd  with  the  natural  progr^fs  of  the 
mind  and  the  infiuence  it  has  upon  our  conJu^St.  —  I 
ihall  now  quit  this  part,  and  proceed  to  what  I  have 
before  ftated,  namely,  that  it  is  not  fo  properly  the  mo- 
tives which  produced  the  alliance,  as  the  confequences 
to  be  produced  from  it,  that  mark  out  the  field  of  phi- 
lofophical  reflection. 

It  is  an  obfervation  I  have  already  made  in  fome  for- 
mer publication,  that  the  circle  of  civilization  is  yet  in- 
complete. A  mutuality  of  wants  have  formed  the  indi- 
viduals of  each  country  into  a  kind  of  national  fociety  ; 
and  here  the  progrefs  of  civilization  has  ftopt.  For  it  is 
cafy  to  fee,  that  nations  with  regard  to  each  other  (not- 
withftanding  the  ideal  civil  law  which  every  one  explain, 
as  it  fuits  him)  are  like  individuals  in  a  ftate  of  natures 
They  are  regulated  by  no  fixt  principle,  governed  by  no 
compulfive  law,  and  each  does  independently  what  it 
pleafes,  or  what  it  can. 

Were  it  pofllble  we  could  have  known  the  world 
when  in  a  ftate  of  barbarifm,  we  might  have  concluded, 
that  it  never  could  be  brought  into  the  order  we  now  fte 
it.  The  untamed  mind  was  ther\  as  hard,  if  not  harder, 
to  work  upon  in  its  individual  ftate,  than  the  national 
jmind  is  in  its  prefent  one.  Yet  we  have  feen  the  ac- 
complifliment  of  the  one,  why  then  fliould  we  doubt 
that  of  the  other  I 


,1 


■■•I 


There  is  a  greater  fitnefg  in  mankind  to  extend  and 

G  com^^ete 


l! 

m 


'?■' 


I    4»    3 

complete  the  civilization  of  nations  with  each  other  at 
this  day,  than  there  was  to  begin  it  with  the  unconnec- 
ted individuals  at  firft ;  in  the  fame  manner  that  it  is 
ibmewhat  caficr  to  put  together  the  materials  of  a  ma- 
chine after  they  are  formed,  than  it  was  to  form  them 
from  original  matter  The  prefent  condition  of  the 
world  differing  fo  exceedingly  from  what  it  formerly 
wae,  has  given  a  new  caft  to  the  mind  of  man,  more 
than  what  he  appears  to  be  fenfible  of.  The  want  of 
the  individual,  which  firft  produced  the  idea  of  fociety, 
are  now  augmented  into  the  wants  of  the  nation,  and  bo 
is  obliged  to  feek  from  another  country  what  before  hq 
fought  from  the  next  perfon. 

Letters,  the  tongue  of  the  world,  have  in  fome 
meafure  brought  all  mankind  acquainted,  and,  by  an 
extenfion  of  their  ufes,  are  every  day  promoting  fome 
new  ffiendfliip.  Through  tjiem  diftant  nations  become 
capable  of  converfation,  and  lofmg  by  degrees  the  awk- 
wardnefs  of  ftrangers,  and  the  morofenefs  of  fufpicion, 
they  learn  to  know  and  underftand  each  other.  Science, 
the  partifan  of  no  country,  but  the  beneficent  patronefs 
of  all,  has  liberally  opened  a  temple  where  all  may  meet. 
Her  influence  on  the  mind,  like  the  fun  on  the  chilled 
earth,  has  long  been  preparing  it  for  higher  cultivation 
and  further  improvement.  The  philofopher  of  one 
country  fees  not  an  enemy  in  the  philofopher  of  an- 
other :  He  takes  his  feat  in  the  temple  of  fcience,  an4 
aiks  not  who  fits  befide  him. 


This  was  not  the  condition  of  the  barbarian  world. 
Then  the  wants  of  man  were  few,  and  the  objed^s  within 
his  reach.    While  he  could  acquire  thefe,  he  lived  in  a 

ftatc 


i\ 


t    43    I 

ftate  of  individual  independence,  the  confequence  of 
which  was,  there  were  as  many  nations  as  perfons,  each 
contending  with  the  other,  to  fecure  fomethlng  which 
he  had,  or  to  obtain  fomething  which  he  had  not.  The 
world  had  then  no  bufinefs  to  follow,  no  fludies  to  ex- 
ercife  the  mind.  Their  time  was  divided  between  floth 
and  fatigue.  Hunting  and  war  were  their  chief  occu- 
pations ;  ilecp  and  food  their  principal  enjoyments. 

Now  it  is  othcrwife.  A  change  in  the  mode  of  life 
has  made  it  necefTary  to  lie  bufy  -,  and  man  Hnds  a 
thoufand  things  to  do  now  which  before  he  did  not. 
Inftead  of  placing  his  ideas  of  greatnefs  in  the  rude 
atchievements  of  the  favage,  he  (ludies  arts,  fcience, 
agriculture,  and  commerce",  the  refinements  of  the  gen- 
tleman, the  principles  of  fociety,  and  the  knowledge  of 
the  philofopher. 

There  are  many  things  which  in  themfelves  are  mo- 
rally neither  good  nor  bad,  but  they  are  productive  of 
confcquenoes,  v/hich  are  ftrongly  marked  v/:th  one  or 
ether  of  thefe  characters.  Thus  commerce,  though  in 
itfelf  a  moral  nullity,  has  had  a  confiderable  influence  in 
tempering  the  human  mind.  It  was  the  want  of  objects 
in  the  ancient  world,  which  occafvoried  in  them  fuch  a 
fude  and  perpetual  turn  for  war.  Their  time  hung  on 
their  hands  without  the  means  of  employment.  The 
indolence  they  lived  in  afforded  leifure  for  mifchief,  and 
being  all  idle  at  once,  and  equal  in  their  circumftances, 
they  were  eafily  provoked  or  induced  to  aftioh. 

.  But  the  introdu\Stion  of  cotnnierce  furnifhed  the  world 
with  objects,  which,  in  their  extent,  reach  every  man, 
and  give  him  fomething  to  think  about  and  foirtething 

G  2f  to 


tlli 


r  44  ] 

to  do ;  by  thcfc  his  attention  is  mechanically  drawn 
from  the  purfuits,  which  a  ftate  of  indolence  and  an  un- 
employed mind  occafioned,  and  he  trades  with  the  fame 
countries  which  former  ages,  tempted  by  their  produc- 
tions, and  too  indolent  to  purchafe  them,  would  have 
gone  to  war  with. 

Thus,  as  I  have  already  obferved,  the  condition  of 
the  world  being  materially  changed  by  the  influence  of 
fcience  and  commerce,  it  is  put  into  a  fitnefs  not  only 
to  admit  of,  but  to  defire,  an  extenfion  of  civilization. 
The  principal  and  almoft  only  remaining  enemy  it  now 
has  to  encounter,  \s,  prejudice ;  for  it  is  evidently  the  in- 
tereft  of  mankind  to  agree,  and  make  the  beft  of  life. 
The  world  has  undergone  its  divifions  of  empire,  the  fe- 
veral  boundaries  of  which  are  known  and  fettled.  The 
idea  of  conquering  countries,  like  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, docs  not  now  exift ;  and  experience  has  exploded 
th*e  notion  of  going  to  war  for  the  fake  of  profit.  In 
ihort,  the  objeds  for  war  are  exceedingly  diminiflied, 
and  there  is  now  left  fcarcely  any  thing  to  quarrel 
about,  but  what  arifes  from  that  demon  of  fociety,  pre- 
judice, and  the  confcquent  fullcnnefs  and  untraitable- 
nefs  of  the  temper. 

There  is  fomething  exceedirrgJy  curious  in  the  con- 
ftitution  and  operation  of  prejudice.  It  has  the  iingular 
ability  of  accommodating  itfelf  to  all  thepoffible  varieties 
of  the  human  mind.  Some  paffions  and  vices  are  but 
thinly  fcattered  among  mankind,  and  find  only  here  and 
there  a  fitnefs  of  reception.  But  prejudice,  like  the  fpider, 
makes  every  where  its  home.  It  has  neither  tafte  nor  choice 
of  place,  and  aU  that  it  requires  is  room.  There  is  fcarcely 
a  fituation,  except  fire  or  water,  in  which  a  fpider  will  not 
live.  Soj  let  the  mind  be  as  naked  as  the  walls  of  an  empty 

and 


U 


t    45    ] 

and  forfaken  tenement,  gloomy  as  a  dungeon,  or  ofna* 
mcnted  with  the  richeft  abilities  of  thinking,  let  it  be  hot, 
cold,  dark  or  light,  lonely  or  inhabited,  ftill  prejudice, 
if  undifturbed,  will  fill  it  with  cobwebs,  and  live,  like 
the  fpider,  where  there  feems  nothing  to  live  on.  If  the 
one  prepares  her  food  by  poifoning  it  to  her  palate  and 
her  ufe,  the  other  docs  the  kame  j  and  as  feveral  of  our 
palfions  arc  ftrongly  charactered  by  the  animal  world, 
prejudice  may  be  denominated  the  fpider  of  the  mind. 


Perhaps  no  two  events  ever  united  fo  intimately  and 
forceably  to  combat  and  expel  prejudice,  as  the  Revolu- 
tion of  America  and  the  Alliance  with  France.  Their 
cfFeiSls  are  felt,  and  their  influence  already  extends  as  well 
to  the  old  world  as  the  new.  Our  ftilc  and  manner  of 
thinking  have  undergone  a  revolution,  more  cxtraordi- 
nary  than  the  political  revolution  of  the  country.  We 
fee  with  other  eyes  j  we  hear  with  other  ears  j  and 
think  with  other  thoughts,  than  thofe  we  formerly  ufed. 
We  can  look  back  on  our  own  prejudices,  as  if  they  had 
been  the  prejudices  of  other  people.  We  now  fee  and 
know  they  were  prejudices  and  nothing  elfe,  and  relieved' 
from  their  fhackles  enjoy  a  freedom  of  mind,  we  felt  not 
before.  It  was  not  all  the  argument,  however  powerful, 
nor  all  the  reafoning,  however  elegant,  that  could  have 
produced  this  change,  fo  neceflary  to  the  extenfion  of 
the  mind,  and  the  cordiality  of  the  world,  without  the 
two  circumilances  of  the  Revolution  and  the  Alliance* 

Had  America  dropt  quietly  from  Britain,  no  material 
change,  in  fentiment,  had  taken  place.  The  fame  no- 
tions, prejudices,  and  conceits,  would  have  governed  in 
both  countries,  as  governed  them  before,  and  ftill  th« 

flaves 


'M 


It 


I'lM' 


IJ 


.        r  46  J 

flaves  of  error  and  education,  they  would  have  travelled 
on  in  the  beaten  track  of  vulgar  and  habitual  thinking. 
But  brought  about  by  the  means  it  has  been,  both  with 
regard  to  ourfelves,  to  France,  and  to  England,  everjr 
Corner  of  the  mind  is  fwept  of  its  cobwebs,  poifon,  and 
duft,  and  made  fit  for  the  reception  of  generous  hap- 
pinefst 

Perhaps  there  never  was  an  Alliance  on  a  broader 
bafis,  than  that  between  America  and  France,  and  the 
progrcfs  of  it  is  worth  attending  to.     The  countries  had 
been  enemies,  not  properly  of  themfelves,  but  through 
the  medium  of  England.  They,  originally,  had  nc  quar- 
rel with  each  other,  nor  any  caule  for  one,  but  what 
arofe  from  the  intereft  of  England  and  her  arming  America 
againft  France.     At  the  fame  time,  the  Americans  at  a 
diftance  from,  and  unacquainted  with  the  world,  and 
tutored  in  all  the  prejudices  which  governed  thole  who 
governed  them«  eon:eived  it  their  duty  to  a6t  as  they  were 
taught.     In  doing  this,  they  expended  their  fubftance  to 
make  conquefts,  not  for  themfelves  but  for  their  mafters^ 
who  in  returh  treated  them  as  ilaves. 

A  LONG  fucceflion  of  infolent  feverity,  and  the  fepara- 
tion  finally  occafioned  by  the  commencement  of  hoflilities 
at  Lexington,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  naturally  pro- 
duced a  new  difpofition  of  thinking.  As  the  mind  clofed 
itfelftowardt  England,  it  opened  itfelf  towards  the  wOrld, 
and  our  prejudices  like  our  oppreilions  underwent,  thoug'h 
lefs  obferved,  a  mental  examination ;  until  we  found  thef 
former  as  inconfiftent  with  reafon  and  benevolence,  as  the 
latter  were  repugnant  to  our  civil  and  political  rights. 

VfftiLt  <ve  were  thus  advancing  by  degrees  into  the' 
wide  field  of  extended  humanity,  the  alliance  witlt 

France 


»-ii 


r  47  i 

France  was  concluded.  An  alliance  not  formed  for  the 
mere  purpofe  of  a  day,  but  on  juft  »nd  generous  grounds, 
and  with  equal  and  mutual  advantages  ;  and  the  eafy 
affectionate  manner  in  which  the  parties  have  fince 
communicated,  has  made  it  an  alliance  not  of  courts 
only  but  of  countries.  There  is  now  an  union  of  mind 
as  well  as  of  intereft  j  and  our  hearts  as  well  as  our 
profperity  call  on  us  to  fupport  it. 

The  people  of  England  not  having  experienced  this 
change,  had  likewife  no  idea  of  it.  They  were  hugging 
to  their  bofoms  the  fame  prejudices  we  were  trampling 
beneath  our  feet ;  and  they  expelled  to  keep  a  hold  upon 
America,  by  that  narrownefs  of  thinking,  which  Ameri- 
ca difdained.  What  they  were  proud  of,  we  defpifed  j  and 
this  is  a  principal  caufe  why  all  their  negociations,  con- 
ftrufted  on  this  ground,  have  failed.  We  are  now  really 
another  people,  and  cannot  again  go  back  to  ignorance 
and  prejudice.  The  mind  «nce  enlightened  cannot  again 
become  dark.  There  is  no  poflibility,  neither  is  there 
any  term  to  exprefs  the  fuppofition  by,  of  the  mind, 
unknowing  any  thing  it  already  knows;  and  therefore 
all  attempts  on  the  part  of  England,  fitted  to  the  former 
habit  of  America,  and  on  the  expectation  of  their  apply- 
ing now,  will  be  like  perfuading  a  feeing  man  to  become 
blind,  and  a  fenfible  one  to  turn  an  idiot  The  firft  of 
which  is  unnatural,  and  the  other  impoifible. 


ii 


As  to  the  remark  which  the  Abbe  makes  of  the  one 

country  being  a  monarchy  and  the  other  a  republic,  it 

can  have  no  effential  meaning.     Forms  of  government 

have  nothing  to  do  with  treaties.   The  former  are  the  in- 

%  terpal 


li  ! 


II 


I   !' 


r  4»  3 

tcrnal  police  of  the  countries  fcvcrally  j  the  latter,  their 
external  police  jointly  :  and  fo  long  as  each  performs  its 
part,  v:e  have  no  more  right  or  buHnefs  to  know  how  the 
one  or  the  other  concludes  its  domcftic  affairs,  than  we 
Jiave  to  enquire  into  the  private  concerns  of  a  family. 


m 


|,>ih 


m 


w 


But  bad  the  Abbe  refle£led  for  a  moment,  he  would 
have  feen,  that  co'irts  or  the  governing  powers  of  al] 
countries,  be  their  forms  what  they  may,  are  relatively 
|-epublics  with  each  other.  It  is  the  firft  and  true  prin- 
ciple of  allianeing.  Antiquity  may  n.tve  given  pre- 
cedence, and  power  will  naturally  create  importance, 
but  their  equal  right  is  never  difputed.  It  may  likewife 
be  worthy  of  remarking,  that  a  monarchical  country  can 
fuffer  nothing  in  its  popular  happinefs  by  allying  with  4 
republican  one  i  and  republican  governments  have  ne- 
ver been  deftroyed  by  their  external  conne<Slions,  but  by 
fome  internal  convulfion  or  contrivance.  France  has 
been  in  aUiance  with  the  republic  of  Swiflerland  for 
more  than  two  hundred  years,  and  ftill  Swiflerland  re- 
tains her  original  form  as  entire  as  iffhe  had  allied  with 
a  republic  like  herfelf  j  therefore  this  remark  of  the 
Abbe  goes  to  nothing. — Befides,  it  is  beft  thct  mankin4 
(hould  mix.  There  is  ever  fomething  to  learn,  either 
of  manners  or  principle;  and  it  is  by  a  free  communi- 
cation, without  regard  to  domeftic  matters,  that  friend- 
fliip  is  to  be  extended,  and  prejudice  deftroyed  all  over 
the  world. 


ilf 


But  notwithftanding  the  Abbe*s  high  profeflions  in 
favour  of  liberty,  he  appears  fometimes  to  forget  hi mfelf, 
or  that  his  theory  is  rather  the  child  of  his  fancy  than  of 
his  judgment;  For  in  almoft  the  fame  inftant  that  he 

cenfures 


i'iitt 


t    49    ] 

Cetlfures  the  alliance  as  not  originally  or  Tufliciently  cal- 
culated for  the  happinefs  of  mankind,  he,  by  a  figure  of 
implication,  accufes  France  for  having  aded  fo  generouf- 
ly  and  unrefervedly  in  concluding  it.  **  Why  did  they, 
**  (fays  he,  meaning  the  Court  of  France)  tie  themfelves 
"  down  by  an  inconfiderate  treaty  to  conditions  with  the 
•'  Congrefs,  which  they  might  themfelves  have  held  in 
•'  dependence  by  ample  and  regular  fupplies.' 


It 


When  an  author  undertakes  to  treat  of  public  hap- 
pinefs, he  ought  to  be  certain  that  he  does  not  miftake 
palTIon  for  right,  nor  imagination  for  principle.  Prin- 
ciple, like  truth,  needs  no  contrivance.  It  will  ever  tell 
its  own  tale,  and  tell  it  the  fxme  way.  But  where  this 
is  not  the  cafe,  every  page  muft  be  watched,  recollected, 
and  compared,  like  an  invented  {lory. 


I  AM  fiMT  '•-d  at  this  paflage  of  the  Abbe.  It  means 
nothing  or  "^  ans  ill;  and  in  any  cafe  it  fhews  the 
great  difrerence  between  fpeculative  and  pra£lical  know- 
ledge. A  treaty  according  to  the  Abbe's  language  would 
have  neither  duration  nor  af&<Slion  ;  it  might  have  laft- 
ed  to  the  end  of  the  war,  and  then  expired  with  it. — But 
France,  by  acting  in  a  ftile  fuperior  to  the  little  politics 
ef  narrow  thinking,  has  eftablilhed  a  generous  fame  and 
won  the  love  of  a  country  (he  was  before  a  ftranger  to. 
She  had  to  treat  with  a  people  who  thought  as  nature 
taught  them ;  and,  on  her  own  part,  (he  wifely  faw, 
there  was  no  prefent  advantage  to  be  obtained  by  unequal 
terms,  which  could  balance  the  more  lading  ones  that 
might  flow  from  a  kind  and  generous  beginning. 

From  this  part  the  Abbe  advances  into  the  fecret  tranf- 
a£lions  of  the  two  Cabinets  of  Verfailles  and  Madrid 

H  refpedting 


A 


r:>ik 


?.r 


[   50   ] 

refpe^ling  the  Independence  of  America  j  through  which 
I  mean  not  to  follow  him.  It  is  a  circumftance  fufE- 
ciently  fir  iking  without  being  commented  on,  that  the 
former  union  of  America  with  Britain  produced  a  power, 
which  inherhands,  wasbeconiingdangerous  totheworld : 
And  there  is  no  improbability  in  fuppofing,  that  had  the 
latter  known  as  much  of  the  ftrength  of  the  former,  be- 
fore ihe  began  the  quarrel  as  fhe  has  known  fince,  that 
inflead  of  attempting  to  reduce  her  to  unconditional  fub- 
miffion,  (he  would  have  propofed  to  her  the  conqueft  of 
Mexico.  But  from  the  countries  feparately  Spain  has 
nothing  to  apprehend,  though  from  their  union  flie  ha4 
more  to  fear  than  any  other  power  in  Europe. 

•  The  part  which  I  {hall  more  particularly  conHne  my- 
felf  to,  is  that  wherein  the  Abbe  takes  an  opportunity  of 
complimenting  the  Britifh  Miniftry  with  high  encomi- 
ums of  admiration,  on  their  rejecting  the  offered  media- 
tion of  the  court  of  Madrid,  in  1779. 

It  xnufl  be  remembered  that  before  Spain  joined 
France  in  the  war,  fhe  undertook  the  office  of  a  media- 
tor and  made  propofals  to  the  Britifli  King  and  Miniflry 
fo  exceedingly  favorable  to  their  interefl,  that  had  they 
been-  accepted,  would  have  become  inconvenient,  if  not 
inadmiffible,  to  America.  Thefe  propofals  were  never- 
thelefs  rejected  by  the  Britifh  cabinet ;  on  which  the 
Abbe  fays,— 


**  It  is  in  fuch  a  circumflance  as  this ;  it  is  in  the  time 
**  when  noble  pride  elevates  the  foul  fuperior  to  all  terror; 
*•  when  nothing  is  feen  more  dreadful  than  the  fhame  of 
**  receiving  the  law,  and  when  there  is  no  doubt  or  hefi- 
"  tation  which  to  chufe,  between  ruin  and  dilhonour; 
I  "  it 


% 


[    51     ] 

"  it  is  then,  that  the  greatnefs  of  a  nation  is  difplayed. 
*'  I  acknowledge  however  that  men,  accuftomed  to  judge 
*'  of  things  by  the  event,  call  great  and  perilous  refolu- 
*'  tions,  heroifm  or  madnefs,  according  to  the  good  or 
*'  bad  fuccefs  with  which  they  have  been  attended.  If 
**  then,  I  fhould  be  afked,  what  is  the  name  which  fhall 
**  in  years  to  come  be  given  to  the  firmnefs,  which  was 
*'  in  this  moment  exhibited  by  the  Englifh,  I  (hall  an* 
'*  fwer  that  I  do  not  know.  But  that  which  it  deferves 
*'  I  know.  I  y  .ow  that  the  annals  of  the  world  hold 
*'  out  to  us  but  rarely,  the  auguft  and  majeftic  fpec-' 
'*  tacle  of  a  nation,  which  chufes  rather  to  renounce  it$ 
**  duration  than  its  glory." 

In  this  paragraph  the  conception  is  lofty  and  the  ex- 
preffion  elegant ;  but  the  colouring  is  too  high  for  the 
original,  and  the  likenefs  fails  through  an  excefs  of 
graces.  To  fit  the  powers  of  thinking  and  the  turn  of 
language  to  the  fubje<^,  fo  as  to  bring  out  a  clear  con- 
clufion  that  fhall  hit  the  point  in  queftion  and  nothing 
elfe,  is  the  true  criterion  of  writing.  But  the  greater  part 
of  the  Abbe's  writings  (if  he  will  pardon  me  the  remark) 
appear  to  me  uncentral  and  burthened  with  variety.  They 
reprefent  a  beautiful  wildernefs  without  paths  ;  in  which 
the  eye  is  diverted  by  every  thing,  without  being  parti" 
cularly  directed  to  any  thin;^  ;  and  in  which  it  is  agreea- 
ble to  be  loft,  and  difficult  to  find  the  way  out. 


Before  I  offer  any  other  remark  on  the  fplrit  and 
compofition  of  the  above  pafTage,  I  inall  compare  it  with 
the  circumflance  it  alludes  to. 


The  circumflance  then  does  not  defcrve  the  cnco- 
flfiium.  The  reje<^ion  was  not  prompted  by  her  fortitude, 

li  2  but 


:;J-i 


I 


"  :l 


U' 


1 1^ 


[      52     ] 

but  her  vanity.  She  did  not  view  it  as  a  cafe  of  defpair 
or  even  of  extreme  danger,  and  confequently  the  deter- 
mination to  renounce  her  duration  rather  than  her  glory, 
cannot  apply  to  the  condition  of  her  mind.  She  had 
then  high  expectations  of  fubjugating  America,  and  had 
no  other  naval  force  againft  her  than  France ;  neither 
was  fl  certain  that  rejeiling  the  mediation  of  Spain 
would  combine  that  power  with  France.  New  media- 
tions might  arife  more  favorable  than  thofe  Ihe  had  re- 
fufed.  But  if  they  fliould  not,  and  Spaia  fiiould  join, 
fhe  fiill  faw  that  it  would  only  bring  out  her  naval  force 
againft  France  and  Spain,  which  was  not  wanted  and 
could  not  be  employed  againft  America,  and  habits  of 
thinking  had  taught  her  to  believe  herfelf  fuperior  to 
both. 


]* 


.iiiii 


But  in  any  cafe  to  which  the  confequence  might  point, 
there  was  nothing  to  imprefs  her  with  the  idea  of  renounc- 
ing her  duration.  It  is  not  the  policy  of  Europe  to  fuffer 
the  extinction  of  any  power,  but  only  to  lop  off  or  prevent 
its  dangerous  encreafe.  She  was  likewife  freed  by  fituu- 
tion  from  the  internal  and  immediate  horrors  of  invafion ; 
was  rolling  in  difiipation  and  looking  for  conquefts  j  and 
tho*  fhe  fufFered  nothing  but  the  expence  of  war,  (he  ftill 
had  a  greedy  eye  to  magnificent  reimburfement. 

But  if  the  Abbe  is  delighted  with  high  and  ftriking 
fintyularities  of  charadtcr,  he  might,  in  America,  have 
found  ample  field  for  encomium.  Here  was  a  people,  who 
could  not  know  Vv^hat  part  the  world  would  take  for,  or 
againft  them  ;  and  who  were«venturing  on  an  untried 
fcheme,  in  oppofition  to  a  power,  againft  which  more 
formidable  nations  had  failed.  They  had  every  thing  to 
Jcarn  but  the  principles  which  fupported  them,  and  every 

thing 


[     53    ] 

thing  to  procure  that  was  neceffary  for  their  defence. 
They  have  at  times  feen  themfelves  as  low  as  diftrefs  could 
make  them,  without  fliewing  the  leaft  ftagger  in  their 
fortitude  ;  and  been  raifed  again  by  the  moft  unexpeded 
events,  without difcovering  an  unmanly  difcompofure  of 
joy.  Tohefitate  or  to  defpair  are  conditions  equally  un- 
known in  America.  Her  mind  was  prepared  for  every 
thing  i  becaufe  her  original  and  final  rcfolution  of  fuc- 
ceeding  or  periftiing  included  all  poflible  circumftances. 

The  rejc6lion  of  the  Britifh  propofitions  in  the  year 
1778,  circumftanced  as  America  was  at  that  time,  is  a 
far  greater  inftance  of  unfhaken  fortitude  than  the  refufal 
of  the  Spanifli  mediation  by  the  Court  of  London :  And 
other  hiftorians,befides  the  Abbe,  ftruck  with  the  vaftnefs 
of  her  conduit  therein,  have,  like  himfelf,  attributed  it  to 
a  circumftance  which  was  then  unknown,  the  alliance 
with  France.  Their  error  fhews  their  idea  of  its  crcat- 
nefsj  becaufe,  in  order  to  account  for  it,  they  have  fought 
a  caufe  fuited  to  its  magnitude,  without  knowing  that 
the  caufe  exifted  in  the  principles  of  the  country.  *) 

*)  Extract  from  ^^  ji  Jhort  review  of  the  prefent  reign"  in 

England. 
Page  45.  in  the  New  Jnnual  Regijicr  for  the  year  1780. 

"  CT'HE  Cotnmijfionersy  who, in  co7ifquence  of  Lord  North*  s 
"  -^  conciliatory  bills,  went  over  to  America ,  to  propofe  terms 
"  of  peace  to  the  colonies,  were  wholly  unfuccefsful.  The  con~ 
^''  cejjions  which  formerly  ivould  have  been  received  with  the 
*'  utmoji  gratitude,  were  rcje^cd  zvith  difdai7i.  Noiv  was 
*'  the  time  of  American  pride  and  haughtinefs .  It  is  probable^ 
*'  however,  that  it  was  not  pride  and  haughtinefs  alone  that 
"  dilated  the  Refoluiions  of  Congrefs,  but  a  diftrnfl  of  the 
^^  fmcerity  of  the  offers  of  Britain,  a  determination  not  to  give 
"  up  their  independence,  and,  above  all,  the  engage- 

**  MENTS  INTO  WHICH  THEY  HAD  ENTERED  BY 
"  THEIR   J.ATE   TREATY   WITH   FkANQE." 

But 


\s 


■'  ' 


[    54    J 

But  this  palfionate  encomium  of  the  Abbe  is  defcrvcd- 
ly  fubjc«Sl  to  moral  and  philcfophical  objedtions.  It  is 
the  eiFuflon  of  wild  thinking,  and  has  a  tendency  to 
prevent  that  humanity  of  refledlion  which  the  criminal 
conduft  of  Britain  enjoins  on  her  as  a  duty. — It  is  a 
laudanum  to  courtly  iniquity. — It  keeps  in  intoxicated 
fleep  the  confcience  of  a  nation  j  and  more  mifchief  is 
efFeded  by  wrapping  up  guilt  in  fplendid  excufe,  than 
by  directly  patronizing  it. 

Britain  is  now  the  only  country  which  holds  the 
world  in  difturbance  and  war;  and  inftead  of  paying 
compliments  to  the  excefs  of  her  crimes,  the  Abbe  would 
have  appeared  much  more  in  character,  had  he  put  to 
her,  or  to  her  monarch,  this  ferious  queftion— 

Are  there  not  mi feries  enough  in  the  world,  toodiHi- 
cult  to  be  encountered  and  too  pointed  to  be  borne, 
without  ftudying  to  enlarge  the  lift  and  arming  it  with 
new  deftrudlion  ?  Is  life  fo  very  long,  that  it  is  neceffary, 
nay  even  a  duty,  to  fhake  the  fand  and  haften  out  the 
period  of  duration  ?  Is  the  path  fo  elegantly  fmooth,  fo 
decked  on  every  fide  and  carpeted  with  joys,  that  wretch- 
ednefs  is  wanted  to  enrich  it  as  a  foil  ?  Go  aflc  thine 
aching  heart  when  forrow  from  a  thoufand  caufes  wound 
it,  go  afk  thy  fickened  felf  when  every  medicine  fails, 
whether  this  be  the  cafe  or  not  ? 


in. 

i: 


Quitting  my  remarks  on  this  head,  I  proceed  to 
another,  in  which  the  Abbe  has  let  loofe  a  vein  of  ilI-> 
nature,  and,  what  is  ftill  worfe,  of  injuftice. 

After  cavilling  at  the  treaty,  he  goes  op  to  characterize 

the 


[    55    ] 

the  feveral  parties  combined  in  the  war — **  Is  it  poi&ble," 
fays  the  Abbe,  "  that  a  ftrid):  union  (hould  long  fubflft 
**  amongft  confederates  of  charadlers  fo  oppofite  as  the 
**  hafty,  light, difdainful  Frenchman,  thejealous,  haugh* 
•'  ty,  fly,  flow,  circumfpedlive  Spaniard,  and  the  Ame- 
"  rican,  who  is  fecretly  fnatching  looks  at  the  mother 
"  country^  and  would  rejoice,  were  they  compatible  with 
'<  his  independence,  at  the  difafters  of  his  allies." 


To  draw  foolifli  portraits  of  each  other,  is  a  mode  of 
attack  and  reprifal,  which  the  greater  part  of  mankind  are 
fond  of  indulging.  The  ferious  philofopher  ihould  be 
above  it,  more  efpecially  in  cafes  from  which  no  poflible 
good  can  arife,  and  mifchief  may,  and  where  no  received 
provocation  can  palliate  the  offence. — The  Abbe  might 
have  invented  a  difference  of  chara<Sler  for  every  country 
in  the  world,  and  they  in  return  might  find  others  for  him, 
till  in  the  war  of  wit  all  real  charafter  is  loft.  The  plea- 
fan  try  of  one  nation  or  the  gravity  of  another  may,  by  a 
little  penciling,  be  diflorted  into  whimfical  features,  and 
the  painter  become  as  much  laughed  at  as  the  painting. 

But  why  did  not  the  Abbe  look  a  little  deeper  and 
bring  forth  the  excellencies  of  the  feveral  parties  ?  Why 
did  he  not  dwell  with  pleafure  on  that  greatnefs  of  cha- 
rader,  that  fuperiority  of  heart,  which  has  marked  the 
conduct  of  France  in  her  conquefls,  and  which  has 
forced  an  acknowledcrment  even  from  Britain  ? 

There  is  one  line,  at  leafl,  (and  many  others  might 
be  difcovered)  in^hich  the  confederates  unite,  which  is, 
that  of  a  rival  eminence  in  their  treatment  of  their  ene- 
mies. Spain,  in  her  conqueil  of  A^inorca  and  the  Bahama 

iflands 


lij 


ll^;!!!. 


I 


r 


|f 


I 


1 « 

1 


iff". 


P.j 


t    i6   1 

iflands  confirms  this  remark.  America  has  been  invariable 
in  her  lenity  from  the  beginning  of  the  war,  notwith- 
ftanding  the  high  provocations  (he  has  experienced  ?  It  i» 
England  only  who  has  been  infolent  and  cruel. 

But  why  muft  America  be  charged  with  a  crime  un* 
deferved  by  her  condud^,  more  fo  by  her  principles,  and 
vrhich,  if  a  fa£^,  would  be  fatal  to  her  honour  ?  I  mean 
that  of  want  of  attachment  to  her  allies,  or  rejoicing  in 
their  difafters.  She,  it  is  true,  has  been  affiduous  in 
ihewing  to  the  world  that  fhe  was  not  the  aggreffor  to- 
wards England,  that  the  quarrel  was  not  of  her  feeking, 
or,  at  that  time,  even  of  her  wifhing.  But  to  draw  in- 
ferences from  her  candour,  and  even  from  her  j  uftifica- 
tion,  to  ilab  her  chara6ler  by,  and  I  fee  nothing  elfe 
from  which  they  can  be  fuppofed  to  be  drawn,  is  unkind 
and  unjuft. 

Does  her  rejection  of  the  Britifh  propofitions  in  1778, 
before  (he  knew  of  any  alliance  with  France,  correfpond 
with  the  Abbe's  defcription  of  her  mind  ?  does  a  fingle 
inftance  of  her  condufl  fince  that  time  juftify  it  ? — But 
there  is  a  ftill  better  evidence  to  apply  to,  which  is,  that 
of  all  the  mails,  which  atdiiFerent  times  have  been  way- 
laid on  the  road,  in  divers  parts  of  America,  and  taken 
and  carried  into  New- York,  and  from  which  the  moft 
fccret  and  confidential  private  letters,  as  well  as  thofe 
from  authority,  have  been  publilhed,  not  one  of  them, 
I  repeat  it,  not  a  fingle  one  of  them,  gives  countenance 
to  fuch  a  charge. 

This  is  not  a  country  where  men  are  under  govern- 
ment reftraint  in  fpeaking  3  and  if  there  is  any  kind  of 

reftruiftt, 


[    S7    1 

reftraint,  it  arifcs  from  a  fear  of  popular  refcntment. 
Now,  if  nothing  in  her  private  or  public  correfpondence 
favours  fuch  a  fuggeftion,  and  if  the  general  difpolition 
of  the  country  is  fuch  as  to  make  it  unfafe  for  a  man  to 
fliew  an  appearance  of  joy  at  any  difafter  to  her  ally,  on 
what  grounds,  I  afk,  can  the  accufation  ft-ind.  What 
company  the  Abbe  may  have  kep*;  in  France,  we  cannot 
know  i  but  this  we  know,  that  the  account  he  gives 
does  not  apply  to  America, 

Had  the  Abbe  been  in  America  at  the  time  the  news 
arrived  of  the  difafter  of  the  fleet  under  Count  dc  GrafTc, 
in  the  Weft-Indies,  he  would  have  feen  his  vaft  miftake. 
Neither  do  I  remember  any  inftance,  except  the  lois  of 
Charleftown,  in  which  the  public  mind  fufiFered  more 
fevere  and  pungent  concern,  or  underwent  more  agita- 
tions of  hope  and  apprehenfion  as  to  the  truth  or  falfe- 
hood  of  the  report.  Had  the  lofs  been  all  our  own  it 
could  not  have  had  a  deeper  effect,  yet  it  was  not  one 
of  thefe  cafes  which  reached  to  the  independence  of 
America, 


In  the  geographical  account  which  the  Abbe  gives  cif 
the  Thirteen  States,  he  is  fo  exceedingly  erroneous,  that 
to  attempt  a  particular  refutation,  would  exceed  the  li- 
mits I  have  prefcribed  to  myfelf.  And  as  it  is  a  matter 
neither  political,  hiftorical,  nor  fcntimental,  and  which 
can  always  be  contradi<5ted  by  the  extent  and  natural 
circumftances  of  the  country,  I  (hall  pat's  it  over  j  with 
this  additional  remark,  that  I  never  yet  faw  an  Eiiropeaii 
defcription  of  America  that  was  true,  neither  can  any 
perfon  gain  a  juft  idea  of  it,  but  by  coming  to  it, 

Though  I  have  already  extended  this  letter  beyond 

I  ..        what 


11    « 


[     58    ] 

tirhat  I  at  firft  propofed,  I  am,  neverthelefs,  obliged  to 
omit  many  obfcrvations,  I  originally  defigned  to  have 
m^de.  I  vvifli  there  had  been  no  occafion  for  making 
any.  But  the  wrong  ideas  which  the  Abbe's  work  had 
a  tendency  to  excite,  and  the  prejudicial  impreflions  they 
might  make,  muil  be  an  apology  for  my  remarks,  and 
the  freedom  with  which  they  are  done. 


'' ,» 


I  OBSERVE  the  Abbe  has  made  a  fort  of  epitome  of  a 
confiderable  part  of  the  pamphlet  Common  Senfe^  and  in- 
troduced it  in  that  form  into  his  publication.  But  there 
are  other  places  where  the  Abbe  has  borrowed  freely 
from  the  fame  pamphlet  without  acknowledging  it  The 
difference  between  focicty  and  government,  with  which 
the  patnphlet  opens,  is  taken  from  it,  and  in  fome  ex- 
preflions  almoft  literally,  into  the  Abbe's  work,  as  if  ori- 
ginally his  own  i  and  through  the  whole  of  the  Abbe's 
remarks  on  this  head,  the  idea  in  Common  .'^enfe  is  fo 
clofely  copied  and  purfued,  that  the  difference  is  only 
in  words,  and  in  the  arrangement  of  the  thoughts,  and 

pot  in  the  thoughts  themfelves*. 

But 


*  Common  Sense. 

**  Some  writers  have  fo 
confounded  fociety  with  go- 
vernment, as  to  leave  little  or 
no  diftinftion  between  them  ; 
whereas,  they  are  not  only 
•iifFerent,  but  have  different 
origins." 

**  SocFETY  is  produced  by 
our  wants  and  governments  by 
our  wickednefsj  the  former 
promotes  our  happinefs  prji- 
ti-vely,  by  uniting  our  affec- 
tions, the  latter  nega/i'vely,  by 
irellraining  our  vices." 


Abbe  Raynal. 
**  Care  mull  be  taken  not 
to  confound  together  fociety 
with  government.  That  they 
may  be  known  dilHnftly,  their 
origin  fhould  be  confidercd.'* 


**  Society  originates  In 
the  wants  of  men,  government 
in  their  vices.  Society  tends 
always  to  good  ;  government 
ought  always  lo  tend  to  the 
reprcffing  of  evil." 


[    59    1 


to 

ive 

ng 
lad 


But  as  it  is  time  I  fhould  come  to  a  conclufion  of  my 
letter,  I  ftiall  forbear  all  further  oblcrvations  on  the 

Abbe's 


In  the  foUsiving  paragraphs  there  is  lefs  lihenefi  in  the  Ian- 
gnagc,  but  the  ideas  in  the  one  are  evidently  copied  from 
the  other. 


Common  Sense. 
*•  In  order  to  gain  a  clear 
and  jutt  idea  of  the  defign  and 
end  of  government,  let  us  fup- 
pofe  a  imall  number  of  per- 
fons,  meeting  in  fome  feque- 
llered  pait  of  the  earth  uncon- 
nected with  the  reil;  thty  will 
then  reprefent  the  peopling  of 
any  country  or  of  the  world. 
In  this  ilate  of  natural  liberty, 
fociety  will  be  our  firft  thought. 
A  thoufand  motives  will  excite 
them  thereto.  The  ftrengih 
bf  one  man  i!>  fo  unequal  to 
his  wants,  and  his  mind  lo  un- 
fitted for  perpetual  folitude, 
that  he  is  foon  obliged  to  feek 
alTiHance  of  another,  who,  in 
his  turn,  requires  the  fame. 
Four  or  five  united  would  be 
able  to  raife  a  tolerable  dwell- 
ing in  the  midft  of  a  wilder- 
nefs ;  but  one  man  might'  la 
bour  out  the  common  period 
cf  life,  without  accompliftuni; 
any  thing  j  when  he  had  felled 
Jiis  timber,  he  could  not  re- 
move it,  nor  ereft  it  after  it 
was  removed;  hunger,  in  the 
mean  time  would  urge  him 
from  his  work,  and  every  dif- 
ferent want  call  him  a  diff^^rt- nt 
way.  Difeafe,  nay  even  inif- 
fortune,  would  be  death  ;  for 
though  neither  might  be  im- 
mediately mortal,  yet  either 
of  them  would   difable    him 

from 


Abbe  Raynal. 
'*  Man,  thrown,  as  it  were, 
by  chance  upon  the  globe, 
furrounded  by  all  the  evils  of 
nature,  obliged  continually  to 
defend  and  protect  his  life 
againlt  the  ftorms  and  tempefls 
of  the  air,  againft  the  ii  jnda- 
tions  of  water,  againll  f'le  fire 
of  vulcanoes,  againft  tiie  in- 
temperance of  frigid  and  torrid 
zones,  againft  the  fterility  of 
the  earth,  which  refufes  him 
aliment,  or  its  baneful  fecun- 
dity, which  makes  poifon 
fpringup  beneath  his  f>.ct; 
in  Ihort,  againll  the  claws  and 
teeth  of  favage  bealts,  who 
difpute  with  him  his  habita- 
tion and  his  prey,  and,  at- 
tacking his  perfon,  feem  re- 
folved  to  render  themfelveJ 
rulers  of  this  globe,  cf  which 
he  thinks  himfeif  to  be  the 
mallfjr:  Man,  in  this  ftate, 
;.lone  and  abandoned  to  him- 
feif, could  do  nothing  for  his 
p'cfervation.  It  v  :  iKceflary, 
therefore,  thathv.  ■'  .;id  unice 
hiniieif,  and  airi;ciate  with  his 
like,  in  order  CO  brin;;  together 
their  itrer  j.iV.  .ind  intel:i:jence 
in  com  T..  a  :lcck.  It  is  b'.'  this 
union  t]»at  he  has  tiiumpKed 
ever  fo  many  evils,  tiiUt  he 
has  falhioned  this  globe  to  his 
ufc,  reilrained  the  river:,  fub- 
jiigaicd  the  leas,  inCurod  his 
I  2  fub- 


^f 


[    6o    ] 

Abbe*s  work,  and  take  a  concife  view  of  the  ftate  of 
public  affairs,  fince  the  time  in  which  that  performance 
was  publilhed. 


A  MIND  habited  to  a£lions  of  meannefs  and  injuftice^ 
commits  them  without  reflexion,  or  with  a  very  partial 
one;  for  on  what  other  ground  than  this,  can  we  account 
for  the  declaration  of  war  againft  the  Dutch.  To  gain 
an  idea  of  the  politics  which  adluated  the  Britiih  Mini- 
Ary  to  this  meafure,  we  muft  enter  into  the  opinion 
which  they,  and  the  Englifh  in  general,  had  formed  of 
the  temper  of  the  Dutch  nation ;  and  from  thence  infer 
what  their  expedation  of  the  confequences  would  be. 


ii 


J4 


1 

It  i' 


fli' 


Common  Sense. 
from  living,  and  reduce  him 
to  a  fiate  in  which  he  might 
rather  be  faid  to  perifh  than  to 
die. — Thus  neceflity,  like  a 
gravitating  power,  would  form 
our  newly  arrived  emigrants 
into  fociety,  the  reciprocal 
bleiTings  of  which,  would  fu- 
perfede  and  render  the  obliga* 
tions  of  law  and  government 
unnecefTary,  while  they  re»- 
mained  perfeftly  juft  to  each 
other.  But  as  nothing  but 
heaven  is  impregnable  to  vice, 
it  will  unavoidably  happen, 
that  in  proportion  as  they  fur- 
mount  the  Aril  difficulties  of 
emigration,  which  bound  them 
together  in  a  common  caufei 
they  will  begin  to  relax  in 
th^ir  duty  and  attachment  to 
each  other,  and  this  remi/Tnefs 
will  point  out  the  necefiity  of 
eflablifhing  fome  form  of  go-> 
vernment  to  fupply  the  defeat 
of  moral  virtue." 


Abbe  Raynal. 
fubfiRence,  conquered  a  part 
of  the  animals  in  obliging 
them  to  ferve  him,  and  driven 
others  far  from  his  empire,  to 
the  depth  of  deferts  or  of 
woods,  where  their  number 
diminifhes  from  age  to  age. 
What  a  man  alone  would  not 
have  been  able  to  cfFefl,  men 
have  executed  in  concert;  and 
altogether  they  preferve  their 
work.  Such  is  the  origin, 
fuch  the  advantages,  and  the 
end  of  fociety.— Government 
owes  its  birth  to  the  neceffity 
of  preventing  and  reprefling 
the  injuries  which  the  afToci- 
ated  individuals  had  to  fear 
from  one  another.  It  is  the 
centinel  who  watches,  in  or- 
der that  the  common  labours 
be  not  difturbed." 


CoULO 


[61] 

Could  they  have  Imagined  that  Holland  would  have 
fcrloufly  made  a  common  caufe  with  France,  Spain,  and 
America,  the  Britifh  Miniftry  would  never  have  dared  to 
provoke  them.  It  would  have  been  a  madnefs  in  politics 
to  have  done  fo  j  unlefs  their  views  were  to  haften  on  a 
period  of  fuch  emphatic  diftrefs,  as  ihould  juftify  the  con- 
ceflions  which  they  faw  they  muft  one  day  or  other  make 
to  the  world,  and  for  which  they  wanted  an  apology  to 
themfelves. — There  is  a  temper  in  fome  men  which  feeks 
a  pretence  for  fubmiflion.  Like  a  (hip  difabled  ina<^ion 
and  unfitted  to  continue  it,  it  waits  the  approach  of  a  flil 
larger  one  toftrike  to,  and  feels  relief  at  the  opportunity. 
Whether  this  is  greatnefs  or  littlenefs  of  mind,  I  am  not 
enquiring  into.  I  fhould  fuppofe  it  to  be  the  latter,  be- 
caufe  it  proceeds  from  the  want  of  knowing  how  to  bear 
misfortune  in  its  original  flate. 

But  the  fubfequent  condu(Stof  the  Britifh  cabinet  has 
fliewn  that  this  was  not  their  plan  of  politics,  and  confe- 
quently  their  motives  mufl  be  fought  for  in  another  line. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  Britifh  had  formed  a  very  hum- 
ble opinion  of  the  Dutch  nation.  They  looked  on  them 
as  a  people  who  would  fubmit  to  any  thing  ;  that  they 
might  infult  them  as  they  liked,  plunder  them  as  they 
pleafed,  and  ftlll  the  Dutch  dared  not  to  be  provoked. 


If  this  be  taken  as  the  opinion  of  the  Britifh  cabinet, 
the  meafure  is  eafily  accounted  for;  becaufe  it  goes  on 
the  fuppofition,  that  when,  by  a  declaration  of  hoftilitles, 
they  had  robbed  the  Dutch  of  fome  millions  flerling,  (and 
to  rob  them  was  popular)  they  could  make  peace  with 
them  again  whenever  they  pleafcu,  and  on  almoft  any 
iCims  the  Britifli  Miniftry  fhould  propofe.  And  no  fooncr 

was 


!i 


!  I 


( 


I'i  <i 


C   e*   ] 

was  the  plundering  committed,  than  the  accommodation 
was  fet  on  foot,  and  failed. 

When  once  the  mind  lofcs  the  fenfe  of  its  own  digni- 
ty, it  lofesjlikewife,  the  ability  of  judging  of  it  in  another* 
And  the  American  war  has  thrown  Britain  into  fuch  a 
variety  of  abfurd  fituations,  that,  arguing  from  herfelf, 
Ihe  fees  not  in  what  condu£l  national  dignity  confifts  in 
other  countries.  From  Holland  fhe  expe(Si:ed  duplicity 
and  fubmiflion,  and  this  miftalce  arofe  from  her  having 
afted,  in  a  number  of  inftances  during  the  prefent  war, 
the  fame  charadter  herfelf. 

To  be  allied  to,  orconnc£led  with  Britain,  feems  to  be 
an  unfafeand  impolitic  fituation.  Holland  and  America 
are  inftances  of  the  reality  of  this  remark.  Make  thofc 
countries  the  allies  of  France  or  Spain,  and  Britain  will 
court  them  with  civility,  and  treat  them  with  refpedt ; 
make  them  her  own  allies,  and  fhe  will  infult  and  plun- 
der them.  In  the  fiift  cafe,  (lie  feels  fome  apprehenfions 
at  offending  them,  becaufe  they  have  fupport  at  hand  ; 
in  the  latter,  thofe  apprehenfions  do  not  exift.  Such, 
however,  has  hitherto  been  her  conduct;. 

Another  meafure  which  has  taken  place  fincc  the 
publication  of  the  Abbe's  work,  and  likewife  fince  the 
time  of  my  beginning  this  let'cr,  is  the  change  in  the 
Britifh  miniftry.  What  line  tiie  new  cabinet  will  pur- 
fue  refpefting  America,  is  at  this  time  unknown  j  neither 
is  it  very  material,  uilefs  they  are  ferioufly  difpofcd  to  a 
general  and  honourable  peace. 

Repeated  experience  has  fhewn,  not  only  the  im- 
practicability of  conquering  America,  but  the  ftill  higher 
impofUbility  of  conquering  her  mind, or  recalling  her  back 

to- 


I  ^l  ] 

to  her  former  condition  of  thinking,  SIncethe  commence- 
ment of  the  war,  which  is  now  approaching  to  eight  years, 
thoufands  and  tens  of  thoufands  have  advanced,  and  are 
daily  advancing  into  the  f  rft  ftagc  of  manhood,  who 
knov/  nothino:  of  Britain  but  as  a  barbarous  enemy,  and 
to  whom  the  independence  of  America  appears  as  much 
the  natural  and  eftabliftied  government  of  the  country,  as 
that  of  England  does  to  an  Englifliman.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  thoufands  of  the  aged,  who  had  Britifh  ideas, 
have  dropped,  and  are  daily  dropping,  from  the  flage  of 
bufinefs  and  life.  The  natural  progrefs  of  generation  and 
decay  operates  every  hour  to  the  difadvantage  of  Britain, 
Time  and  death, hard  enemies  to  contend  with,fightcon- 
ftantly  againC:  her  intereft  ;  ar.d  the  bills  of  mortality,  in 
every  part  of  Amcrioa,  are  the  thermometers  of  her  decline. 
The  children  in  the  ftreets  are  from  their  cradle  bred  to 
confider  her  as  their  only  foe.  They  hear  of  her  cruel- 
ties ;  of  their  fathers,  uncles,  and  kindred  killed  j  they 
fee  the  remains  of  burnt  and  deftroyed  houfes,  and  the 
common  tradition  of  the  fchool  they  go  to,  tells  them, 
thofe  things  were  done  by  the  Britijh, 


These  are  circumftances  which  the  mere  Englifh  ftatc 
politician,  who  confiders  man  only  in  a  ftatc  of  manhood, 
docs  not  attend  to.  He  gets  entangled  with  parties  co- 
eval or  equal  with  himfelf  at  home,  and  thinks  not  how 
faft  the  riling  generation  in  America  is  growing  beyond 
his  knowledge  of  them,  or  they  of  him.  In  a  fcv/  years  all 
perfonal  remembrance  will  be  lolt,  and  who  is  King  or 
Minifter  in  England,  will  be  little  known  and  fcarcely 
enquired  after. 

The  new  Britilh  adminiftration  is  compofcd  of  pcrfons 
who  have  ever  been  againfl  the  war,  and  who  have  con- 

2  Itantly 


1  * 


m 

ill 


m 


Hi 


r  «4  ] 

ftantly  reprobated  all  the  violent  meafures  of  the  former 
one.  They  confidered  the  American  war  as  deftruftive 
to  themfelves,  and  oppofed  it  on  that  ground.  But  what 
are  thefe  things  to  America  ?  She  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Englifh  parties.  The  ins  and  the  outs  are  nothing  to  her. 
It  is  the  whole  country  fhe  is  at  war  with,  or  muft  be  at 
peace  with. 

"Were  every  Minifter  in  England  a  Chatham,  it  would 
now  weigh  little  or  nothing  in  the  fcale  of  American 
politics.  Death  has  preferved  to  the  memory  of  this 
ftatefman,  that  fame,  which  he,  by  living,  would  have 
loft.  His  plans  and  opinions,  towards  the  latter  part  of 
his  life,  would  have  been  attended  with  as  many  evil  con- 
fequences,  and  as  much  reprobated  here,  as  thofe  of  Lord 
North  ;  and,  confidering  him  a  wife  man,  they  abound 
with  inconfiftencies  amounting  to  abfurdities. 

It  has  apparently  been  the  fault  of  many  in  the  late 
minority,  to  fuppofe,  that  America  would  agree  to  certain 
terms  with  them,  were  they  in  place,  which  (he  would 
not  ever  liften  to  from  the  then  adminiftration.  This 
idea  can  anfwer  no  other  purpofe  than  to  prolong  the  war ; 
and  Britain  may,  at  theexpence  of  many  more  millions, 
Jearn  the  fatality  of  fuch  miftakes.  If  the  new  miniftry 
wifely  avoid  thishopelefs  policy,  they  will  prove  themfelves 
better  pilots,  and  wifer  men,  than  they  are  conceived  to 
be  J  for  it  is  every  day  expcdcd  to  fee  their  baric  ftriicc 
upon  fome  hidden  rock  and  go  to  pieces. 

But  there  is  a  line  in  which  they  may  be  great.  A 
more  brilliant  opening  needs  not  to  prefent  itfelf ;  and 
it  is  fuch  a  one,  as  true  magnanimity  would  improve, 
and  humanity  rejoice  in. 


r  65  J 

A  toTAL  reformation  is  wanted  in  England.  She 
wants  an  expanded  mind, — an  heart  which  embraces  the 
univerfe.  Inftead  of  fhutting  herfelf  up  in  an  ifland, 
and  quarrelling  with  the  world,  (he  would  derive  more 
lading  happinefs,  and  acquire  more  real  riches,  by  gene-* 
roufly  mixing  with  it,  and  bravely  faying,  I  am  the  ene- 
my of  none.  It  is  not  now  a  time  for  little  contri-* 
vances,  or  artful  politics.  The  European  world  is  too 
experienced  to  be  impofed  upon,  and  America  too  wifa 
to  be  duped.  It  muft  be  fomething  new  and  mafterly 
that  muft  fucceed.  The  idea  of  feducing  America  from 
her  independence,  or  corrupting  her  from  her  allfance, 
is  a  thought  too  little  for  a  great  mind,  and  impofTible 
for  any  honeft  one,  to  attempt.  Whenever  politics  are 
applied  to  debauch  mankind  from  their  integrity,  and 
diffolvc  the  virtues  of  human  nature,  they  become  de- 
teftable  }  and  to  be  a  ftatcfman  upon  this  plan,  is  to  be 
a  commiiHoncd  villain.  He  who  aims  at  it,  leaves  a  va- 
cancy in  his  character,  which  may  be  filled  up  with  th(? 
worft  of  epithets. 

If  the  difpofition  of  England  fliould  be  fuch,  as  not 
to  agree  to  a  general  and  honourable  peace,  and  that  the 
war  muft,  at  all  events,  continue  longer,  I  cannot  help 
wiftiing,  that  the  alliances  which  America  has  or  may 
enter  into,  may  become  the  only  objctSls  of  *-he  war.  She 
wants  an  opportunity  of  ftiewing  to  the  world,  that  fhe 
holds  her  honor  as  dear  and  facred  as  her  independence, 
and  that  fhe  will  in  no  fituation  forfaice  thofe^  whom  no 
negociations  could  induce  to  forfake  her.  Peace  to 
every  reflective  mind  is  a  defirable  object;  but  that  peace 
which  is  accompanied  with  a  ruined  chara»^ler,  becomes 
a  crime  to  the  feducer,  and  a  curfe  upon  the  feduced. 


A 


But  where  is  the  in^po.T»bility,  or  even  the  great  dif- 

K  ficulty, 


ilr 


;ft 


[    66     J 

iiculty,  of  England  forming  d  fjitnufliip  with  France 
and  Spain,  and  making  it  a  national  virtue  to  renounce 
for  ever  thofe  prejudiced  inveteracies  it  has  been  her  cuf- 
tomto  cherifh  ;  and  which,  while  they  fervc  to  fink  her 
with. an  encreafing  enormity  of  debt,  by  involving  her  in 
fruitlefs  wars,  become  likewife  the  bane  of  her  rcpofc, 
and  the  deftruction  of  her  manners  ?  We  had  once  the 
fetters  that  flie  has  now,  but  experience  has  (hewn  us 
the  miftakc,  and  thinking  juftly  has  fet  us  right. 

The  true  idea  of  a  great  nation  is  that  which  extends 
and  promotes  the  principles  of  univsrfal  focicty.  Whofe 
mind  rifes  above  the  atmofpheres  of  local  thoughts,  and 
confiders  mankind,  of  whatever  nation  or  profeffion  they 
may  be,  as  the  work  of  one  Creator.  The  rage  for  con- 
queft  has  had  its  fafhion,  and  its  day.     Why  may  not 
the  amiable  virtues  have  the  fame  ?     The  Alexanders 
and  Caefars  of  antiquity,  have  left  behind  them  their 
monuments  of  deftrudion,  and  are  remembered  with 
hatred  j   while  thefe  more  exalted  characters,  who  firft 
taught  fociety  and  fcicnce,  are  bleft  with  the  gratitude 
of  every  age  and  country.     Of  more  ufe  was  one  philo- 
Ibpher,  though  a  heathen,  to  the  world,  than  all  the  hea- 
then conquerors  that  ever  exifted. 

Should  the  prefent  revolution  be  diftinguifhed  by 
opening  a  new  fyftem  of  extended  civilization,  it  will 
receive  from  heaven  the  higheft  evidence  of  approbation ; 
and  as  this  is  a  fubjedt  to  which  the  Abbe's  powers  are 
fo  eminently  fuited,  I  recommend  it  to  his  attention, 
with  the  afte£tion  of  a  friend,  and  the  ardour  of  a  uni- 
vcrfal  citizen. 


* 


\.t 


POSTSCRIPT. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


SINCE  cIoiinjT  the  fnrcgoinr',  letter,  fomc  intimations, 
refpedtinsr  a  oi^ncral  peace,  have  made  their  way  to 
America.  On  what  authority  or  foundation  they  fl.;nd, 
or  how  near  or  remote  fuch  an.  event  mny  be,  arc  cir- 
cumftances  I  am  not  enquiring  into.  But  as  tho  fub- 
je6l  muft  fooner  or  later  become  a  matter  of  ferious  at- 
tention, it  may  not  be  improper,  even  at  this  early  pe- 
riod, candidly  to  invciligatc  f  jme  points  that  arc  con- 
nected with  it,  or  lead  towards  it.       •> 


* 


^  / 


The  independence  of  America  Is  at  this  moment  as 
firmly  eftablifhed  as  that  of  any  other  country  in  a  ftatc 
of  war.  It  is  not  length  of  time,  but  power,  that  gives 
liability.  Na^ns  at  war  know  nothing  of  each  other 
on  the  fcorc  of  antiquity.  It  is  their  prefent  and  imme- 
diate ftrength,  together  \ylth  their  connexions,  that 
muft  fupport  them.  To  which  wc  may  add,  that  a  right 
which  originated  to-day,  is  as  much  a  right,  as  if  it  had 
the  fan6lion  of  a  thoufand  years  i  and  therefore  the  in- 
dependence and  prefent  governments  of  America  are  in 
no  more  danger  of  being  fubverted,  becaufe  they  are  mo- 
dern, than  that  of  England  is  fccure,  becaufe  il  is  an- 
cient. 


The  politics  of  Britain,  fo  far  as  they  rcfpe£led  Ame- 
rica, were  originally  conceived  in  idiotifm,  and  adted  in 
madnefs.  There  is  not  a  ftep  which  bears  the  fmalleft 
trace  of  rationality.  Li  her  management  of  the  war, 
fhehas  laboured  to  be  wrct(h(\%  and  itu'iievi  to  be  hated  ; 
and  in  all  her  former  :M<.p:.  ".Jons  for  accommodation, 

K  J.  ihc 


il 


w 


i    63    ] 

fhe  has  difcovcred  a  total  ignorance  of  mankind,  and  of 
thofe  natural  and  unalterable  fenfations  by  which  they 
arc  fo  generally  governed.  How  (he  may  conduct  her- 
felf  in  the  prefent  or  futuie  bufinefs  of  ncgociating  a 
peace,  is  yet  to  be  proved. 

He  is  a  weak  politician  who  does  not  underftand  hu- 
man nature,  and  penetrate  into  the  efFc£t  which  mea- 
fures  of  government  will  have  upon  the  mind.  All  the 
mifcarriages  of  Britain  have  arifen  from  this  defe<Sl.  The 
former  Miniftry  a<Sled  as  if  they  fuppofed  mankind  to  be 
•without  a  mind 'y  and  the  prefent  Miniftry,  as  if  America 
was  without  a  memory.  The  one  muft  have  fuppofed  we 
were  incapable  of  feeling  ;  and  the  other,  that  we  could 
not  remember  injuries. 

There  is  likewife  another  line  in  which  politicians 
miftake,  which  is  that  of  not  rightly  calculating,  or  ra- 
ther of  misjudging,  the  confcquence  which  any  given 
circumftance  will  produce.  Nothing  is  more  frequent, 
as  well  in  common  as  in  political  life,  than  to  hear 
people  complain,  that  fuch  or  fuch  means  produced  an 
event  diredtly  contrary  to  their  intentions.  But  thq 
fault  lies  in  their  not  judging  rightly  what  the  event 
would  be  ;  for  the  means  produced  only  its  proper  andi 
natural  confequence. 

It  is  very  probable,  that  in  a  treaty  for  peace,  Britain 
will  contend  for  fpme  poft  or  other  in  North  America  ; 
perhaps  Canada  or  Halifax,  or  both :  and  I  infer  this 
from  the  known  deficiency  of  her  politics,  which  have 
ever  yet  made  ufe  of  means,  whofe  natural  event  was 
againft  both  her  intereft  and  her  expectation.  But  the 
5  queftion 


m 


[    69    ] 

^ucftion  with  her  ought  to  be,  Whether  it  is  worth  her 
while  to  hold  them,  and  what  will  be  the  confequence. 

Respecting  Canada,  one  or  other  of  the  two  follow- 
ing will  take  place,  viz.  If  Canada  fhould  people,  it  will 
revolt ;  and  if  it  do  not  people,  it  will  not  be  worth  the 
cxpence  of  holding.  And  the  fame  may  be  faid  of  Ha- 
lifax, and  the  country  round  it.  But  Canada  never  will 
people ;  neither  is  there  any  occafion  for  contrivances  on 
one  fide  or  the  other,  for  nature  alone  will  do  the  whole. 

Britain  may  put  hcrfclf  to  great  cxpenccs  in  fend- 
ing fettlers  to  Canada  ;  but  the  defccndants  of  thofe  fet- 
tlers  will  be  Americans,  as  other  defcendants  have  been 
before  them.  They  will  look  round  and  fee  the  neigh- 
bouring States  fovereign  and  free,  refpeftcd  abroad  and 
trading  at  large  with  the  world;  and  the  natural  love 
of  liberty,  the  advantages  of  commerce,  the  blcflings  of 
independence  and  of  a  happier  climate,  and  a  richer  foil, 
will  draw  them  fouthward,  and  the  effect  will  be,  that 
Britain  will  fuftuin  the  cxpcncc,  and  America  reap  the 
advantage. 

One  would  think  that  the  experience  which  Britain 
has  had  of  America,  would  entirely  ficken  her  of  all 
thoughts  of  continental  colonization ;  and  any  part  which 
(he  might  retain,  will  only  become  to  her  a  field  of  jea- 
loufy  and  thorns,  of  debate  and  contention,  for  ever 
ftruggling  for  privileges,  and  meditating  revolt.  She  may 
form  new  fettlements,  but  they  will  be  for  us  j  they  will 
become  part  of  the  United  States  of  America ;  and  that 
againft  all  her  contrivances  to  prevent  it,  or  without  any 
endeavours  of  ours  to  promote  it.  In  the  firft  place,  fhe 
cannot  draw  from  them  a  revenue  until  they  are  able 

to 


« > 


»■ 


M 


;> 


I** 


'    [    70    ] 

to  pay  one,  and  when  they  arc  T/,  rhoy  will  be  above 
fubjcdion.  Men  Toon  become  aitachccl  to  the  foil  they 
liv^o  upon,  ai.d  incoi-poratcJ  with  ihc  profperity  of  the 
place  ;  and  it  fiKnifics  but  little  what  opinions  they 
come  over  with,  for  time,  intcreft,  and  new  connections 
will  render  them  obsolete,  and  the  next  generation 
know  nothing  of  them. 

Were  Butain  truly  wife  ftie  would  lay  hold  of  the 
prefent  opportunity  to  difentangle  hcrfclf  from  all  conti- 
nental embarralTmcnts  in  North-America,  and  that  not 
only  to  avoid  future  broils  and  troubles,  but  to  fave  ex- 
pences.  For  to  fpcak  explicitly  on  the  matter,  I  would 
not,  were  I  an  European  power,  have  Canada,  under  the 
conditions  that  Britain  muft  retain  it,  could  it  be  given 
to  mc.  It  is  one  of  thofe  kind  of  dominions  that  is, 
and  ever  will  be,  a  conftant  chur^c  upon  any  foreign 
holder. 

As  to  Halifax,  it  will  become  ufelefs  to  England  after 
the  prefent  war,  and  the  lofs  of  the  United  States.  A 
harbour,  when  the  dominion  is  gone,  for  the  purpofe  of 
which  only  it  was  wanted,  can  be  attended  only  with  ex- 
pence.  There  are,  I  doubt  not,  thoufands  of  people  in 
England,  who  fuppofc,  that  thofe  places  are  a  profit  to 
the  nation,  whereas  they  are  direftly  the  contrary,  and 
inflead  of  producing  any  revenue,  a  confiderable  part  of 
the  revenue  of  England  is  annually  drawn  off,  to  fup« 
port  the  expence  of  holding  them. 

Gibraltar  Is  another  inftance  of  national  ill  policy. 
A  poft  which  in  time  of  peace  is  not  wanted,  and  in  time 
of  war  is  of  no  ufe,  muft  at  all  times  be  ufelefs.     Inftead 


„ 


I 


7« 


1 


of  affording  proteiTtion  to  a  navy,  it  requires  the  aid  of 
one  to  maintain  it.    And  to  fiippofc  that  (Jibraltar  com- 
mands the  Mediterranean,  or  the  pais  into  i:,  or  the  trade 
of  it,  is  to  fuppofc  a  dctc<51ed  falfliood  ;  becaufc  though 
Britain  holds  the  poll,  fhc  has  loii  the  other  three,  and 
every  benefit  (he  expelled  from  it.     And  to' fay  that  all 
this  happens  becaufc  it  is  beficged  by  land  and  water, 
is  to, fay  nothing,  for  this  will  always  be  the  cafe  in 
time  of  war,  while  France  and  Spain  keep  up  fuperior 
fleets,  and  Britain  holds  the  place. — So  that,  though  as 
an  impenetrable  inacccfllblc  rock  it  may  be  held  by  the 
one,  it  is  always  in  the  power  of  the  other  to  render  it 
ufelefs  and  exceffively  chargeable. 

I  (hould  fuppofe  that  one  of  the  principal  obje6ls  of 
Spain  in  befiegingit,  is  to  fhow  to  Britain,  that  though 
jfhc  may  not  take  it,  (he  can  command  it,  that  is,  fhe  can 
Ihut  it  up,  and  prevent  its  being  ufcd  as  a  harbour, 
though  not  a  garrifon. — But  the  fhort  way  to  reduce 
(jibraltar,  is,  to  attack  the  Britifti  fleet;  for  Gibraltar 
is  as  dependent  on  a  fleet  for  fupport,  as  a  bird  is  on  its 
wing  for  food,  and  when  wounded  there  it  ilarves. 

There  is  another  circumftance  which  the  people  of 
England  have  not  only  not  attended  to,  but  fecm  to  be 
utterly  ignorant  of,  and  that  is,  the  difi^erence  between 
permanent  power,  and  accidental  power,  con fidercd  in  a 
national  fcnfe. 


Bv  pcrmanrnt  pow^er,  I  mean,  a  natural  inherent  and 
pcrp;.ti5ai  ability  in  a  nation,  which  though  always  in 
bein^;,  m?y  not  be  always  in  action,  or  not  alv*'ays  ad- 
vantagoouily  directed  3  and  by  accidental  power,  I  mean, 

a  fortunate 


C    7==    J 

a  fortunate  or  accidental  difpofition  or  excrcifc  of  na- 
tional ftrcngth,  in  whole  or  in  part. 


r     < 


!•'■ 


There  undoubtedly  was  a  time  when  any  one  Euro- 
pean nation,  with  only  eight  or  ten  (hips  of  war,  equal 
to  the  prefent  fhips  of  the  line,  could  have  carried  terror 
to  all  others,  who  had  not  began  to  build  a  navy,  how- 
ever great  their  natural  ability  might  be  for  that  pur- 
pofc  ;  But  this  can  be  confidered  only  as  accidental, 
and  not  as  a  flandard  to  compare  permanent  power  by, 
and  could  lail  no  longer  than  until  thofe  powers  built 
as  many  or  more  fhips  than  the  former.  After  this  a 
larger  fleet  was  neceflary,  in  order  to  be  fuperier  j  and 
a  IHll  larger  would  again  fuperfode  it.  And  thus  man- 
kind have  gone  on  building  fleet  upon  fleet,  as  occafioa 
or  fituation  dictated.  And  this  reduces  it  to  an  ori^i- 
nal  queftion,  which  is :  Which  power  can  build  and 
man  the  largeft  number  of  fhips  ?  The  natural  anfwer 
to  which,  is.  That  power  which  has  the  largeft  revenue 
and  the  greateft  number  of  inhabitants,  provided  its  fi- 
tuation of  coaft  affords  fufHcicnt  conveniencies. 


\i 


\i 


■ia 


I 


■:  <( 


France  being  a  nation  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
and  Britain  an  iiland  in  its  neighbourhood,  each  of  them 
derived  different  ideas  from  their  different  fituations.  The 
inhabitants  of  Britain  could  carry  on  no  foreign  trade, 
nor  ftir  from  the  fpot  they  dwelt  upon,  without  the  af- 
fiftance  of  (hipping ;  but  this  was  not  the  cafe  with 
France.  The  idea  therefore  of  a  navy  did  not  arife  to 
France  from  the  fame  original  and  immediate  neceflity 
which  produced  it  to  England.  But  the  queftion  is,  that 
when  both  of  them  turn  their  attention,  and  employ  theif 
revenues  the  fame  way,  which  can  be  fuperior  I 

Ths 


[    73    1 

The  anhual  revenue  of  France  is  nearly  double  that 
of  England,  and  her  number  of  inhabitants  more  th-.uj 
twice  as  many.  Each  of  them  has  the  fame  Icncrth  ol" 
coaft  on  the  channel,  bcfidts  which,  France  has  fcvcral 
hundred  miles  extent  on  the  bay  of  Bifcay,  and  an  open- 
ing on  the  Mediterranean  :  and  every  day  proves,  that 
pradice  and  excrcifc  make  failors,  as  well  as  foluicrs, 
in  one  country  as  well  as  another. 

If  then  Britain  can  maintain  an  hundred  Hiips  of  the 
line,  France  can  as  well  fupport  an  hundred  and  fifty^ 
becaufe  her  revenues  and  her  population  arc  as  equal  to 
the  one  as  thofe  of  England  are  to  the  other.  And  the 
only  rcafon  why  {he  has  not  done  it,  is  becaufe  (he  has 
not  till  very  lately  attended  to  it.  But  when  flic  fees, 
as  (he  now  fees,  that  a  navy  is  the  firft  engine  of  power, 
fhe  can  eafily  accompliih  it.  "    • 

England  very  falfely,  and  ruinoufly  for  herfelf.  In- 
fers, that  becaufe  fne  had  the  adv;uitao;e  of  France,  while 
France  had  the  fmaller  navy,  that  for  that  rcafon  it  is 
always  to  be  fo.  Whereas  it  may  be  clearly  fecn,  that 
the  ftrength  of  France  has  never  yet  been  tried  on  a 
navy,  and  that  fhe  is  able  to  be  as  fupcrior  to  England 
in  the  extent  of  a  navy,  as  flic  is  in  the  extent  of  her  re- 
venues and  her  population.  And  Enjiland  may  lament 
the  day,  when,  by  h.r  infolence  and  irjuftice,  file  pro- 
voked in  France  a  maritime  difpoiition. 


It  is  in  the  power  of  the  combined  ^cets  to  coiquer 
every  ifland  in  the  Wcil  Indies,  an<l  reduce  all  the  JJri- 
tifli  navy  in  tnofj  places.  For  were  France  ard  Spain 
to  fend  their  whole  naval  force   in  Europe  to   thofs 

L  iilands, 


r 


ll 

T 

t 


ll;'.  T  H 


!f 


ll 


ii'i 


ff. 


[     7+    ] 

iflands,  it  would  not  be  in  the  power  of  Britain  to  follow 
them  with  an  equal  force.  She  would  ftill  be  twenty  or 
thirty  (hips  inferior,  were  ftje  to  fend  every  veflel  flic 
had,  and  in  the  mran  t,"  ic  all  the  foreign  trade  qf  Eng- 
land would  lay  cxpofed  to  the  Dutch. 

It  is  a  maxim,  which,  I  am  pcrfuaJed,  will  ever  hold 
good,  and  more  cfpeciaily  in  naval  operations,  that  a 
great  power  ougrit  never  to  move  in  detachments,  if  it 
can  poflibly  be  avoided  ;  buc  to  go  with  its  whole  force 
to  fome  important  object,  the  reduction  of  which  ftiall 
have  a  dccifiye  eftt6l  upon  the  war.  Had  the  whoh:  of 
^hc  French  and  Spanifia  fleets  in  Europe  come  lad  fpring 
to  the  Weft  Indies,  every  ifland  had  been  their  own, 
Rodney  their  prifoner,  and  his  fleet  their  prize.  From 
the  United  States  the  combined  fleets  can  be  fii^>plied 
with  provifions,  without  the  nepefuty  of  drawing  them 
from  Europe,  which  is  not  the  cafe  with  Enu^land. 

Accident  has  thrown  fome  advantages  in  the  way  of 
England,  which,  from  the  inferiority  of  her  navy,  (he 
had  not  a  right  to  expecSl:.  For  though  ftie  has  been 
obliged  to  fly  before  the  combined  fleets,  yet  Rodney  has 
twice  had  the  fortune  to  fall  in  with  detached  fqua- 
drons,  to  which  he  was  fuperior  in  numbers  :  The  firft 
cff  Cape  St.  Vincent,  where  he  had  nearly  two  to  one, 
and  the  othv^r  in  the  Weft  Indies,  where  he  had  a  ma- 
jority of  fix  fhips.  Vidlorics  of  this  kind  almoft  pro- 
duce themfelvcs.  They  are  won  without  honor,  and 
fuftered  without  difgracc  :  And  are  afcribable  to  the 
chj.nce  of  meeting,  not  to  the  fuperiority  of  fighting. 
For  the  fame  Admiral,  under  whom  they  were  obtained, 
was  unable,  in  three  former  enoag-emcnts,  to  make  the 
3  leai^ 


[    75    ] 

leaft  impreflion  en  a  fleet  confifting  of  ai  equal  number 
of  fhips  with  his  own,  and  compounded  for  the  events 
by  declining  the  adlions  *. 

To  conclude,  if  it  may  be  faid  that  Britain  has  nu- 
merous enemies,  it  likewife  proves  that  fhe  has  given 
numerous  offences.   Infolence  is  fure  to  provoke  hatred, 
whether  in  a  nation  or  an  individual.     The  want  of 
manners  in  the  Eritifh  court  may  be  feen  even  in,  its 
birth-days  and  new-years  Odes,  which  arc  calculated  to 
infatuate  the  vulgar,  and  difguft  the  man  of  refinement ; 
And  her  former  overbearing  rudenefs,  and  infufferable 
injuftice  on  the  feas,  have  made  every  commercial  na- 
tion her  foe.     Her  flf^ts  were  employed  as  engines  of 
prey  ;  and  a(Sled  on  the  furface  of  the  deep  the  charac-r 
ter  which  the  (hark  does  beneath  it. — On  the  coiner 
hand,  the  Combined  Po\  -^rs  are  taking  a  popular  part, 
and  will  render  their  reputation  immortal,  by  eftablifli- 
ing  the  perfedl  freedom  of  the  ocean,  to  which  all  coun- 
tries have  a  right,  and  are  intcrcfted  in  accomplifhing. 
The  fea  is  the  world's  highway  j    and  he  who  arrogates 
a  prerogative  over  it,  tranfgreffes  the  right,  and  juftly 
brings  on  himfelf  the  chaftifement,  of  nations. 

Perhaps  it  might  be  of  fome  fervice  to  the  future 
tranquillity  of  mankind,  were  an  article  introduced  into 
the  next  general  peace,  that  no  one  nation  fliould,  in 
time  of  peace,  exceed  a  certain  number  of  fhips  of  war. 
Somethingof  this  kind  feemsnecelTaryi  for  according  to  the 


*  See  the  accounts^  either  Englijh  or  French ^  of  three  ac' 
tions  in  the  IVtJi  Indies^  bttwtfn  Count  de  Guichen  and  Ad* 
tniral  Rodney y  in  1780. 

prefent 


■Ix- 


4 


[     76    ] 

prefent  fafliion,  half  the  world  will  get  upon  the  water# 
and  th; tu  appears  no  end  to  the  extent  to  which  navies 
may  be  carried.  Another  rcafon  is,  that  navies  add  no- 
thing to  the  mannc.s  or  moraia  of  a  people.  The  fequef* 
tercd  life  which  attends  the  fervlce,  prevents  the  oppor- 
tunities of  fociety,  and  is  too  apt  to  occadon  a  coarfeu'^rs 
of  ideas  and  language,  and  that  more  in  (hips  of  warthaii 
in  commercial  employ;  bccaufe  in  the  latter  they  mix 
mor'c  with  the  world,  and  arc  nearer  related  to  it.  I  men- 
tion this  remark  as  a  general  one  ;  and  not  applied  to 
any  one  country  more  than  another* 

BkiTAlfJ  has  how  had  the  trial  of  above  fevcri  years, 
tvlth  an  expence  of  nearly  an  hundred  million  pounds 
fterling  ;  and  every  month  in  which  (he  delays  to  con- 
clude a  peace,  cofts  her  another  million  fterling,  over 
nnd  above  her  ordinary  expehces  6f  government,  which 
are  a  million  more;  fo  that  hei'  tota?  monthly  expence  is 
two  million  pounds  fterling,  which  is  equal  to  the  whole 
yearly  expence  of  America,  all  charges  included.  Judge 
then  who  is  beft  able  to  continue  iti 


i 


^ii. 


She  has  likewife  many  atonehients  t6  make  to  an  in- 
jured world,  as  well  in  one  quarter  as  another.  And  in- 
ftead  of  purfuing  that  temper  of  arrogance,  v^rhich  fcrVes 
only  to  ftnk  her  in  the  eftcem,  and  entail  on  her  the  dif-» 
like,  of  all  nations,  fhc  will  do  well  to  reform  her  man-* 
ners,  retrench  her  expences,  live  peaceably  W'th  hci' 
neighbours,  and  think  of  war  no  more*      ' '   - 


r 


i 

"I 


Philadelphia,  Auguft  2i>  1782. 


> » t 


ii  '< 


f\ 


